


don't act like it's a bad thing

by checktheargyle



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-19
Updated: 2014-06-19
Packaged: 2018-02-05 08:34:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 30,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1812040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/checktheargyle/pseuds/checktheargyle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luhan had his eyes set on the <em>Daesang</em>. Baekhyun had his heart set on a beautiful working relationship with his idol Kim Taeyeon. au.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from a line in Justin Timberlake's 'Not a Bad Thing'.

Luhan hid a yawn with the back of his left hand, his right hand tapping a rhythm with his fingers against the clothed table, as he listened to the music playing through the earphone plugged into his right ear. Everyone else around him were mingling with wine glasses in hand, but he paid them no attention.

Attending weddings were usually a chore for him, not because he was a bitter and lonely guy, but because the majority of the weddings Luhan attended were those of people he sometimes wasn’t even familiar with, thanks to his dad’s connections with the rich and famous. It was an opportunity for networking, his dad would say, and he supposed that his dad was right, as all this networking skills did come into handy in his current work as an executive producer in the company.

And really, Luhan probably shouldn’t be just sitting there, listening to a stranger’s iPod which had been left on the vacant seat next to him, when the attendees included potential sponsors he could be liaising with.

It was just that, the iPod had been lying there the whole time since he had took his seat, all throughout dinner, and was strangely very distracting. Even at the end of dinner, no one had come to collect the abandoned iPod. Of course, the logical move would be to pass it to Chanyeol, since the latter had the guest list, instead of turning the device on and scrolling through the music library.

Luhan never claimed he was always logical.

And now, he was listening to a composition he had never heard before, hooked on the music, the beats, and the voice. Was this song officially released somewhere? The artiste name flashing at him was simply ‘B’, whom he had not come across before. Or was this by some aspiring musician? Maybe he would ask Chanyeol for the guest list after all.

Checking his watch, he muttered a curse under his breath as he remembered that he had an early flight to catch in the morning and he had yet to pack. With his mind made up, he pocketed the device and got up from his seat, intending to leave before he got caught by anyone.

 

 

 

“Park Chanyeol!!!!”

“Baek, it’s- well, I have no idea what time it is, but it’s morning. Could you tone down the volume a bit?” Chanyeol grumbled into the phone. “Or better yet, don’t even talk?”

“It’s an emergency!”

“I’m dead tired from entertaining guests last night. Can’t this wait until afternoon?”

“I lost my iPod. I looked everywhere. It’s not in my room, it’s not in the bag. I was sure that I was listening to it at the wedding but now it’s gone.” Baekhyun said, ignoring Chanyeol’s request to postpone the conversation. “Did the hotel mention any items being left behind at the dinner?”

“No, not that I know of. I will check with them later. And if they turn up with nothing, I will ask Luhan-hyung the next time I see him. Now, can I go back to sleep?”

“Who the hell is Luhan?”

“He is the hyung I’ve known since I was young, and whom my parents love more than me.” Chanyeol sighed dramatically, seemingly more awake than a few moments ago. He knew Baekhyun wasn’t going to let him go back to sleep anytime soon. “He is the son of the owner of L Entertainment, that’s why I insisted that you get put next to him so that you could impress him and finally get a job?”

“What the fuck?”

“Hey, I was doing it in your best interests. How many rejection letters have you received from them so far?”

“Shut up, Chan. How was I supposed to impress this Luhan when you made me become the MC for your sister’s wedding at the last minute?”

“True. But that’s not my fault.”

“I didn’t even get to go back to my seat to enjoy my dinner. I expect payment.” Baekhyun complained.

“If you need money, go get a job.”

“Uh, what do you think I have been doing, Mr. Park? I’ve been sending out countless of demo songs to L Entertainment.”

“I’ve heard every single one of them, Mr. Byun, and they are really bad in comparison to those from your original portfolio. I’m not surprised you get rejected. Just stop writing ballads, they’re not your forte.”

“But Taeyeon-sshi is best at ballads!” Baekhyun replied indignantly.

“Quite sure we’ve had this conversation before.” Chanyeol sighed. “Anyway, Luhan-hyung is out of the country so I won’t meet him until next weekend.”

“Can’t you just call him now?”

“No, I’m not going to do that. I’m going back to sleep now. And as for you, you can go back to your songwriting and hopefully come up with something more decent and more like your other good stuff. Bye.”

Not giving Baekhyun a chance to retort, Chanyeol ended the call, tossing his phone onto the bed and going back to sleep.

 

 

 

“So, this friend of yours, is he an aspiring musician?” Luhan asked, as Chanyeol explained that he was calling because he wanted to check if Luhan had seen his friend’s iPod at the wedding.

“You heard his songs?” Chanyeol asked, sounding enthusiastic all of a sudden.

“Yeah, sorry, I was bored at the dinner.” Luhan said, not even sounding the least bit guilty.

Chanyeol snorted. “Better not let my sis hear you say that.”

“Yoora should know I never enjoyed such occasions. At least I attended, unlike my parents.”

“Which city are uncle and auntie in right now?”

“The last I heard, they were travelling to Amsterdam.” Luhan said. “Anyway, this friend of yours, what’s his name?”

“Byun Baekhyun, has a music degree, in case you’re curious.” Chanyeol stated, before elaborating without any prompts from the other. “He’s always wanted to be a professional songwriter and music producer, and just graduated not long ago, so he happens to be looking for a job right now.”

“Really now.” Luhan said, amused. “Well, tell Baekhyun that if he wants his iPod back, he would need to come over to L Entertainment’s office to get it from me.”

“Thanks hyung! I would be sure to pass him the message.”

 

 

 

“L Entertainment please.”

“Say where again?”

“L Entertainment please.”

The cab driver turned to look at his passenger, who was dressed in a light grey sweatshirt and tattered blue jeans, small round face framed by a pair of thick-rimmed black glasses. _Typical spoilt teenager_ , he concluded. “Young man, L Entertainment is just across the road from this train station. Do you really want to take a cab there?”

“Yeah.” Baekhyun mumbled as he yawned, not really paying heed to the incredulous voice of the cab driver. “Ahjusshi, I’ve never been there before and I might get lost. Can you please just drive there?”

The cab driver shook his head, as he noticed his passenger already dozing off in the backseat, and floored the accelerator. Two minutes later, Baekhyun found himself awoken by the grumbling driver, who wasted no time in taking his cash and speeding off.

Adjusting his faux thick-rimmed frames, Baekhyun rubbed at his eyes, yawning as he tried to wake himself up to focus on the greenish glass building in front of him, when he noticed a crowd gathered around the glass doors. Just as he was coming to terms that the crowd was largely female, a car honk surprised him, making him jump aside in alarm.

From his position next to the security post, Baekhyun watched curiously as the girls moved to form two lines, phones and long lens cameras whipped out, while the black MPV pulled to a stop in between.

The door to the MPV opened, immediately accompanied by multiple shutter sounds and excited female screaming as the crowd surged forward.

“Oppa~!”

Baekhyun stood on tip-toes as he tried to see which celebrity it was. “Ah, idols huh.” Baekhyun muttered disinterestedly, no longer on tip-toes and yawning for the umpteenth time as a group of young men seem to be trying to get out of the vehicle. Pulling up his backpack, hoping to make himself more comfortable as he waited for the crowd to disperse, he noticed he was no longer standing alone.

 _Must be the errand boy_ , Baekhyun concluded, noting the carton tray filled with eight cups of Caffe Bene held by the person next to him, dressed in a blue striped shirt, with a cap worn backwards hiding a mop of brown hair, young boyish face hidden beneath thin fashion frames.

“Crazy huh.” Baekhyun nodded towards the frenzy. “Think I’ve heard their song before, but it’s bad. Not sure why they have fans at all.”

The other merely turned towards Baekhyun with a frown on his face, but did not reply. For a moment there, Baekhyun wondered if the other person was not a mere errand boy, but actually a fan of the group. Oh well.

When the crowd finally dispersed, the other boy headed into the building without a word, Baekhyun hurrying to follow along so that he wouldn’t get stuck at the entrance waiting for the receptionist to let him in. The other frowned once again upon noticing Baekhyun following him.

“Thanks!” Baekhyun waved slightly at the other. “By the way, you shouldn’t frown too much, or you might get wrinkles.” He added offhandedly, before turning to head towards the reception, not noticing the glare thrown towards his direction.

After getting a visitor pass and verbal directions on how to get to Luhan’s office, Baekhyun started to head towards the lift lobby. Stepping into the lift, he wondered if it was possible for him to get to another floor to maybe explore the rooms. Alas, when he tried clicking the button to another floor, the button refused to light up, since his visitor pass was programmed to allow him access to only the 7th floor and main lobby.

The lift doors opened to an empty lobby, with a double-glass door on one side, and an open path to a corridor on the other. Baekhyun recalled the pretty receptionist instructing him to turn away from the glass doors, then to turn left, away from the washrooms. And then, he was supposed to go to ‘the baby pink door, not the brown ones’.

What guy intentionally painted their office door baby pink? Baekhyun had to admit, he was now starting to get curious about Luhan, although he was partly annoyed that the latter had made him come all the way to retrieve what was his.

“Come in.” A voice answered after two knocks.

The interior was, thankfully, not pink, but simplistically designed in black and white, and even included a small lounge area that had two sofas and a television. When Baekhyun finally focused his attention on the guy behind the desk, however, his eyes widened in surprise.

“It’s you.” Baekhyun pointed to Luhan, who had taken off his cap and glasses, looking less like a teenage errand boy.

Luhan looked up. “Oh, you’re Baekhyun?”

“Yes, you have something of mine which I came to collect.” Baekhyun gave a brusque reply.

“Take a seat.” Luhan waved at one of the chairs in front of his desk, before pulling out a file and Baekhyun’s iPod from his side drawer. When he saw that Baekhyun had settled down, and had a frown on his face, Luhan raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you say that frowning gives you wrinkles?”

“Ah!” Baekhyun started rubbing his cheeks with his hands, as if the action would help rid any potential wrinkles from his face.

Luhan chuckled lightly. “Anyway, I heard your songs, and I apologise for doing so without your permission. But I really like what I heard, and I would like to offer you a job as a songwriter for my company.”

“What?”

“This is the contract.” Luhan placed the file in front of the other. “The details are all in there, in terms of compensation, copyrights, etc. It’s a three-year exclusive contract, and you do get paid a basic monthly salary. You can take your time to read through and consider my offer, and I’m open to negotiation as well.”

Baekhyun stared at the file in front of him, not really absorbing the words although he at least understood vaguely what Luhan was telling him. This was what he had been working towards to, and although he never admitted it aloud to anyone, he was actually starting to have second thoughts after getting rejected so many times. Finally though, someone was recognising his talent and giving him a chance, and Baekhyun felt relieved.

“You, my friend, are a saviour.” Baekhyun started, not even realising that he was spilling out his thoughts to a total stranger. “It’s kind of embarrassing, but I’ve actually submitted several demo songs which I wrote specifically for Kim Taeyeon-sshi, but I kept getting rejected and Chanyeollie kept saying it’s because the songs I submitted were bad. It’s not good for my ego, y’know?”

“I’ve heard that Taeyeon-sshi is particular about the songs she picks to sing.”

“Of course! Of course, I completely understand. Someone like her obviously has high standards to maintain. I’m a huge fan of hers so I wouldn’t want her singing something she was uncomfortable with. And I’m lacking in experience right now, so maybe, in the future, she might consider my songs?”

Luhan shrugged noncommittally.

Interpreting Luhan’s reaction as hesitation, Baekhyun continued. “Don’t worry, I understand, you can’t promise me such things. I’m really grateful to you just for this job offer. Of course I’ll accept it. Can I borrow a pen? I’ll just sign it now.”

“Are you sure that you don’t want to at least look through it first?” Luhan asked.

“You’re Chanyeol’s friend. I trust you.” Baekhyun brushed him off, as he took the pen from Luhan and quickly flipped through the contract, filling in his details where required and signing it. “There, done.”

Baekhyun passed the signed contract to Luhan, smiling brightly at the other who appeared rather shocked by the events that had just unfolded, as if he had expected Baekhyun to reject the offer. Did Luhan think Baekhyun would have been petty enough to reject just because the older ‘stole’ his iPod? Baekhyun was a magnanimous human being.

Luhan excused himself to make a copy of the signed contract. When he returned, he informed Baekhyun that he would introduce him to the group he would be working with.

“Can I meet Taeyeon-sshi first?”

 

 

 

“Jongdae-ah, its’ your turn.”

Jongdae bounced on the balls of his feet, as he settled into position next to the keyboard, ready for his hyung to put them through the usual warm-up steps.

As Minseok played the first chords, Jongdae sang out effortlessly, his voice carrying the note easily, used to the daily routine. Singing came as a second nature to him, so it was not unusual for Jongdae’s attention to wander over to the control room of the studio. Yixing, the producer working on their upcoming mini album, was fiddling around with the equipment, seemingly in his own world, as was the case more often than not.

_Hmm, where’s Luhan-hyung?_

The other had dropped by the studio slash practice room earlier and passed Yixing their daily dose of coffee, letting the latter distribute the cups while he uncharacteristically disappeared quickly with his own cup. Jongdae had found it odd, as Luhan normally would have stayed on to observe at least part of their practice.

“Mi.”

“Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah….”

“Fah.” Minseok stated as he hit the same note on the keyboard.

“Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah…”

Jongdae’s attention naturally perked up as he noticed the door opening. Luhan walked into the main studio area, a shorter male following closely behind. Jongdae squinted as he tried to make out the features of the other, as the two conversed animatedly, the shorter male looking agitated.

“Soh.”

“Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah…”

“La.”

Just as the shorter male was about to walk out of the room, Luhan grabbed the other’s arm to stop him, the action strong enough to cause the other to almost fall into Luhan.

“Ah-ah-AAAAH-” Jongdae’s usually steady voice cracked, bringing the harmony to a halt.

Kyungsoo glared at the dissonance, immediately standing up from where he was sitting next to Joonmyun and walking over to punch Jongdae in his side.

“Ouch! Wae!”

“You weren’t even concentrating.” Kyungsoo hissed.

“Jongdae-ah’s too good anyway that’s why he doesn’t need to concentrate at all.” Minseok said from where he still stood behind the keyboard, looking amused. Jongdae looked back at the older sheepishly. “Let’s switch. Kyungsoo-ah, you want to play the chords for me?”

“Okay, hyung.” Kyungsoo nodded as he took his place behind the keyboard, shooting Jongdae another death glare.

Before taking his seat next to Joonmyun, Jongdae took a quick glance outside and couldn’t help but notice Luhan’s hand lingering on the other person’s arm. He felt a nudge from beside him.

“Stop being so distracted.” Joonmyun whispered, conveniently leaving out what everyone knew Jongdae was obviously distracted by.

“Sorry, hyung.” Jongdae said, before turning back to focus his attention on Minseok and Kyungsoo.

 

 

 

Baekhyun, unfortunately, did not get to meet his idol. He had checked his phone when Luhan said that he wasn’t sure if she was in the office, and Baekhyun’s sources indicated that she was likely to be recording a variety show that day. Baekhyun sighed loudly, before awkward silence fell between the two as they made their way to wherever Luhan was taking him.

“The guys should still be in there.” Luhan said, as they stopped at a door. “This is the recording studio we always use.”

The first thing Baekhyun noticed was a guy seated in front of the digital audio workstation, blatantly ignoring their presence, and Baekhyun couldn’t tell if the guy was just overly focused on his work, or purely being rude.

The next thing Baekhyun noticed was the group standing in the live room, causing him to do a double take when he recognized who they were.

“Are you trying to be funny?”

Luhan turned to him, seemingly unsurprised by Baekhyun’s reaction, probably because the latter had criticized the group’s song earlier without realizing who he had been speaking to at the time.

“This is a joke right? Please tell me that this is a joke.”

“No, I was being serious.” Luhan replied, straight-faced.

“You heard what I said this morning right?” Baekhyun asked, to which Luhan merely nodded. Seeing Luhan’s nonchalance, Baekhyun lifted his arms in exasperation. “And you still decided to hire me to write for them? C’mon, there’s so many other artistes in the company, why do I have to write for them?”

“You’re hired by Shinjitsu Records, which may be a subsidiary of L Entertainment, but your contract clearly stated that you can only write for artistes under my company, and I only have one group right now.” Luhan explained.

“Wait, what? Shin- what?”

Luhan rolled his eyes. “Shinjitsu. It’s a Japanese word. Is it that difficult to remember?”

“We’re in Korea.”

“I’m Chinese.”

“That’s even more confusing!”

“It’s not, really.”

“I can’t do this. My dream is not this.” Baekhyun waved dismissively towards the group, before turning to leave.

“Wait!” Luhan grabbed Baekhyun’s arm to pull him back, causing the other to stumble before Luhan steadied him.

“You signed a contract. I asked you to look through it but you didn’t want to, and if you terminate it now, there’s a huge penalty to pay.” Luhan sighed. “Look. You said that their song wasn’t good enough, so now I want you to help compose a better song for them. I am giving you a chance when no one else is, so can you give them a chance too?”

Baekhyun bit his lip as he pondered his options. Putting aside the people he was going to be working with, this chance that Luhan was offering him was what he had always wanted. There were no guarantees that anyone else at L Entertainment, or any other company, would be willing to give him such an opportunity again. And he didn’t need Chanyeol to tell him off for being an idiot should he choose to terminate the contract less than an hour after he had signed it. The penalty didn’t help. Nor did the hopeful eyes that Luhan was literally shining at him right now.

“Fine, I’ll do this.”

“Great!” Luhan heaved a sigh of relief, before smiling brightly at him. Baekhyun felt like he was staring at a poster ad for toothpaste, featuring a really pretty model. It made his heart flutter for a few seconds. Luhan, meanwhile, continued talking excitedly, pulling Baekhyun forward. “Let me introduce you to the guys. Zhang Yixing!”

“Yeah?” Said guy finally pulled his attention away from work, blinking at Luhan and Baekhyun curiously.

“This is Baekhyun. Baekhyun, this is Yixing, who is helping to produce the group’s upcoming release, so you’ll be working with him on the title track of the mini album.” Luhan introduced quickly, before signalling to the group to come out. “Where’s Sehunnie and Jongin?”

“They headed over to dance practice first.”

“Oh ok.” Luhan turned back to Baekhyun. “I guess you can meet those two another time. Why don’t you introduce yourself first?”

“Uh, hi. I’m Baekhyun. I’m the new songwriter.” He said, unsure of what else he was supposed to say, without sounding extremely unenthusiastic about his current situation.

“Hi I’m Joonmyun.” The guy who had answered Luhan earlier stepped forward to shake Baekhyun’s hand. “Just out of curiosity, how old are you?”

“Oh yeah, I completely didn’t bother to check that.” Luhan looked at Baekhyun wide-eyed, as if shocked by his own lack of diligence. “You’re Chanyeol’s age, I suppose?”

Baekhyun merely nodded, before a loud voice pulled his attention away, tone somewhat nasty.

“What? That means you’re my age?”

“Why? Do you have a problem with that?” Baekhyun shot back at the guy, who hadn’t even bother to introduce himself.

“Well, I was just wondering how much experience you would have.”

“Yixing is the same age as I am.” Joonmyun pointed out.

“Xing-xing ge is a genius, he can’t be compared!”

Baekhyun scoffed, all ready to walk out and tell Luhan he can go ahead and list him as a long-term debtor because there was no way in hell he was going to work with this-

“Oh, you’re Baekhyun!” Yixing suddenly exclaimed, before quickly turning to his workstation and clicking rapidly. “I really liked what you came up with!”

“What?” Baekhyun stared at YIxing, confused. The next thing he knew, familiar strains of a song he composed started playing. He immediately turned to Luhan, glaring accusingly at the other.

As the song continued playing, Baekhyun suddenly felt nervous being judged by so many people, even though technically, he did ace the assignment for which he wrote this song. He watched as most of the members look like they were at least somewhat enjoying the music.

When the song ended, the first one to comment just had to be _him_. “It’s passable.”

Irritated, Baekhyun immediately retorted. “It’s definitely better than that stupid ‘Ma-ma-ma-ma-machine’ song you keep singing.”

“That song is funky and catchy! Many people liked it!” The other shouted back, taking a step forward towards Baekhyun.

Suddenly, Luhan stepped in between the two, the hand that had been unconsciously holding onto Baekhyun since earlier finally letting go of its hold as Luhan turned to face the other person. “Jongdae-ah, I need more coffee. Can you accompany me to the café?”

Oh, so now this person had a name. _Jongdae._ Baekhyun was so going online later to find this guy’s anti-fan club page and join it.

“Sure, hyung!” Jongdae replied, suddenly all smiles. Baekhyun scoffed at the immediate change in attitude.

“Minseok, do you want to come along?” Luhan addressed one of the two members who had been silent the whole time.

Minseok shook his head. “Nah, you two can go ahead.”

“Okay, the rest of you better head to dance practice.” Luhan said, herding the members towards the exit. The door to the studio closed for about two seconds, before Luhan popped his head again. “Zhang Yixing. Help Baekhyun out, will you? I’ll be back later.”

“Sure.”

With that, Luhan disappeared once more, leaving the two alone in the room.

“Jongdae’s normally a lot nicer.” Yixing said. “He has his reasons.”

“Is having something stuck up his ass one of the reasons?”

Yixing shook his head. “Let’s start work, shall we?”

 

 

 

Baekhyun stared at the sheet of paper in his hand, frowning at the red-inked scribbling that was all over his neatly typed out lyrics and line assignments.

It had been about a week since he first started working with Yixing on his song, taking the older’s advice on changing some parts of his original composition. They managed to come up with a revised instrumental track easily, but the tough part was having to add a rap portion into the new demo. It wasn’t that he was bad at rap – he and Chanyeol occasionally burst into freestyle rap as the latter randomly strummed chords on his guitar. The problem was that even he wasn’t sure what he was really writing about back then. (Yet, he still aced the assignment because he was a genius like that, and maybe because of the killer tune and beats which distracted the teacher, who had simply instructed them to include ‘Earth’ and ‘sun’ in the lyrics.)

“It’s okay. The guys can just say it’s about becoming stronger and making history.” Yixing had said, when Baekhyun had admitted not knowing what message he was trying to convey with his lyrics. “I don’t think people really care.”

Baekhyun laughed, as Yixing grinned back with a dimpled smile.

Right now though, sitting across from Luhan in the studio, Baekhyun didn’t feel like smiling at all.

“These are just my suggestions.” Luhan stated. “Nothing definite.”

“Well, thank you for your suggestions, but I don’t see what’s wrong with what I assigned, so I guess we’ll be sticking to mine.”

“No, we should discuss and come up with what’s best.” Luhan disagreed. “For example, the first line. I think Jongin should start the song.”

“No, he shouldn’t.”

“But he’s the visual.”

“What the hell is a ‘visual’?” Baekhyun made a face, doing air quotations with his right hand.

“Jongin and Sehunnie are the face of the group, and the best dancers. That’s why I put them to stand in the center. It’ll be good for-“

“Wait, did you just hear yourself?” Baekhyun interrupted Luhan. “You just said Jongin is the ‘visual’ and the best dancer. He’s a rapper, ain’t he?”

“That doesn’t mean he can’t sing. Rappers can sing too.”

Baekhyun waved the sheet of paper at Luhan’s face. “Yixing-hyung made me write a rap for those two kids. They will stick to their rap. Unless you want me to put Joonmyun to rap instead?”

Luhan swatted the sheet of paper away from his face. “No way. Joonmyun can’t rap to save his life.”

“And that’s why he will be singing. Just like how Jongin and Sehun will rapping. And the best singer should start the song.”

“Fine, then give the line to Jongdae.”

Baekhyun scowled upon hearing that name. “The best singer is obviously my Kyungsoo.”

“ _Your_ Kyungsoo?” Luhan narrowed his eyes at Baekhyun.

“Yixing-hyung let me hear some of their recordings and helped me to recognize each of their voices. Kyungsoo’s voice is like sweet velvet chocolate.”

“Kyungsoo and Jongdae are _both_ the best singers of the group.”

Baekhyun gritted his teeth, glaring at Luhan as he jabbed a finger on the sheet of paper. “I already gave that guy the second line! You didn’t even give Kyungsoo any lines in the first verse! How biased of you!”

“Well in your version, all I saw was Kyungsoo’s name everywhere.” Luhan retorted. “Anyway, calm down will you? So what about Kyungsoo, Minseok then Jongdae?”

“No, my Kyungsoo must sing the part before the chorus.”

Luhan rolled his eyes. “I don’t think he would take it well if he knows that you’ve claimed him without his knowledge.”

“We just haven’t gotten to know each other better yet. He’ll come around.” Baekhyun said, before taking a blue pen to write on the paper. “So I’ll put it as _Jongdae_ , Minseok then my Kyungsoo. Second verse? What’s wrong with mine?”

“Jongdae should sing more lines as a main vocalist of the group. But since you insisted that Kyungsoo sings that part, just put Jongdae to sing the line you originally gave to Minseok.”

“He already sings a lot in the other songs in the album.” Baekhyun grumbled as he made the changes. “And the next part? I gave _Jongdae_ a line.”

“No point splitting those two lines to two singers, so just assign them both to Joonmyun and let Jongdae sing the last line before the rap.”

“Whatever. You’re the boss.”

Luhan paused, watching quietly as Baekhyun scribbled the changes on his paper. “Jongdae’s actually a really fun, nice guy to hang out with.” Luhan began. “You just haven’t gotten to know each other better yet. You’ll come around.”

“It’s alright. It’s a professional relationship between me and the group anyway.” Baekhyun shrugged. “So when can we start recording?”

“I’ll try to get one or two of them out of dance practice this afternoon and we can start recording. Yixing should be here later too.” Luhan said. “Good job, by the way. I like the revised version even more than your original. And you have a nice voice.”

“Okay…” Baekhyun raised an eyebrow at Luhan’s sudden praise. “Thanks. But for the record, I don’t intend to join the group, even if I’m rather awesome.”

Luhan snorted before checking his watch. “Lunch?”

“Eh, I was going to find Yixing-hyung. He said he’s working on something with Taeyeon-sshi this morning so I wanted to catch a glimpse.”

Luhan shook his head in exasperation. “Fine, suit yourself. Just be back here by one.”

 

 

 

“Just be back here by one.” Baekhyun imitated Luhan, as he sprawled himself over the sofa in the studio. “It’s already two! Where the hell is Luhan?!”

Yixing merely continued fiddling with the equipment, seeming to be in his own world again. If Baekhyun hadn’t gotten used to Yixing’s odd behavior the past week, and if Yixing wasn’t such a nice guy when he actually re-joined the commoners’ world, Baekhyun would have been peeved.

Just then the door opened, and Jongdae stepped in.

“Sorry, I’m late. The choreographer didn’t want to let me leave until I got the move right.” Jongdae said sheepishly, his smile dropping slightly when he noticed Baekhyun. There was a moment’s pause, before Jongdae continued. “Uh, sorry. About that day.”

Baekhyun figured that Luhan must have said something to Jongdae, but seeing that the other didn’t behave like the same diva he saw last week, Baekhyun decided he would give the other the benefit of doubt. “Forgiven.”

Jongdae opened his mouth and looked like he was about to say something, but decided otherwise. Baekhyun got up from the sofa and jumped to his feet, stretching himself and yawning, before turning back to face Jongdae, pointing a finger gun at the latter.

“Alright, time to start recording your next hit song!”

 

 

 

As the last chorus came to an end, Baekhyun clapped his hands twice before raising his arms up in the air, feeling victorious and satisfied with the latest edit of the song. He stood up and turned to Yixing and the music engineer, some guy named Lee Jinki, bowing down to show his gratitude and appreciation for their hard work.

“Baekhyun-ah, thank you for all your hard work. Why don’t you head off first?” Yixing said. “Get some rest.”

“Thanks hyung! See ya!” Baekhyun waved as he grabbed his backpack, heading out of the studio.

Glancing at his watch, he realised it was still quite early before he was due to meet Chanyeol for dinner, and decided that since he now held an employee pass, it’d be stupid of him not to make use of it to explore the rest of the office building.

Humming softly to himself as he walked along one of the corridors, he tried to keep close to the walls, hoping to hear some familiar tunes which could hint at the presence of some other artistes.

“Eh?” Baekhyun paused at the door when the tune of the unedited recording reached his ears. Just his luck that even while loitering around, the only people he would stumble upon would be the same ones he work with. He was somewhat curious about the dance choreography though, and wondered if he could try to take a peep.

“Are you going in?”

Baekhyun jumped when he heard a voice behind him. He almost jumped again when he turned around and looked up only to see a scary looking face.

“If you’re not going in, can you move aside? You’re blocking the way.”

How rude. Baekhyun thought, as he stepped aside for the other, who simply opened the door without knocking. He decided he should bring this up to Luhan one day, about how there seem to be a lot of rude employees here.

Seeing the other person walk in without even knocking, Baekhyun silently followed behind, before quickly moving to a corner in case he disrupted anything.

“Sehun!” The guy greeted loudly, murderous-looking face suddenly morphing into a childish, smiling one.

“Oh, Zitao!” Sehun stopped in mid-dance, jogging over to greet his friend.

“Why are you here again today, Zitao?” Luhan remarked loudly, not noticing Baekhyun’s presence. “Don’t you have your drama to film?”

Baekhyun observed as Kyungsoo, Jongin, Minseok and Joonmyun continued their dance without missing a beat, ignoring the disruption by Zitao. At the side, Jongdae appeared to be practicing separately, with Luhan guiding him. Wait, was Luhan the choreographer? Was he not able to hire a professional to choreograph the dance?

“Jongdae, it should be this way.” Luhan said, correcting Jongdae’s posture before showing him how the dance move should go. Jongdae repeated the move after watching Luhan. “Yes, that’s right! Keep it up!”

“Biased.” Baekhyun muttered under his breath and pouted. No one seemed to have noticed him yet. Was his presence really that insignificant?

Sehun and Zitao appeared to be playing some weird game in one corner, while the other four continued practising, this time focusing on the chorus part. While he was impressed with what he saw, he couldn’t help but have his attention sway towards Luhan and Jongdae. “Why does he get special treatment?”

This went on for about ten minutes, before Baekhyun heard his name being called.

“Oh Baekhyun-sshi.”

Baekhyun looked back towards the group of four, where the others had finally ended the dance and Minseok had noticed him. Baekhyun continued pouting, looking back at Minseok pitifully. _Minseok-hyung, I always knew you were the nicest of the lot._

“What’s wrong?” Minseok asked as the four approached where Baekhyun sat. Baekhyun shook his head.

“What are you doing here, Baekhyun?” Luhan looked at Baekhyun from where he still stood next to Jongdae, who was now leaning against the former, Luhan’s hand rubbing down his back. Baekhyun’s eye twitched at the sight.

“I’m bored.”

“Bored? I didn’t hire you to be bored.”

“I finished my work, boss. And now I have nothing else to do.”

“Oh, ok.” Luhan pulled himself away from Jongdae and walked towards his bag, grabbing his wallet and pulling out a credit card. “Can you help the guys get some drinks? I don’t want them to get dehydrated.”

“Don’t you have an assistant to do such things?”

“No. So make yourself useful and help out, will you?” Luhan said, handing Baekhyun his card. “You said you’re bored anyway. Oh, get some food too since we’re all hungry.”

Baekhyun loudly pushed his seat backwards and grabbed the card from Luhan angrily. _Yeah, sure, make me be your errand boy while you spend your time showing public display of affections with your boyfriend. He stomped out of the room in a huff._

 

 

 

“I smell fried chicken.” Jongin suddenly announced, while he continued doing the dance move. Taking a quick glance in the mirror, he watched as Baekhyun stumbled in with a few bags of food and dumped them on the table. “Did you buy fried chicken, hyung?” He asked over the music.

“Yes.”

“Oh my God, I love you, hyung.” Jongin declared just as they finished the ending move. Without missing a beat, he did a quick turn and hurriedly made his way to the table, suddenly feeling hungrier than he thought. Baekhyun laughed at the sight. Soon, Jongin was joined by the rest of the guys, all eager to get their share.

Luhan checked through the plastic bags, frowning when he noticed that besides drinks, everything else Baekhyun had bought were chips and other unhealthy snacks. He’d have to make sure the guys eat something healthier later, just in case. He looked up, when he heard Baekhyun’s voice.

“Hey, why aren’t you eating?” Baekhyun asked Jongdae, who sat next to him, only drinking.

“Ah, I can’t. I have a sore throat.” Jongdae replied. “Thanks for buying all these though.”

“Jongdae, I’ll go get something for you to eat.” Luhan said.

Jongdae waved his hand. “No, no! You don’t have to, Luhan-hyung. I’m not that hungry.”

“But you didn’t finish your food during lunch either. You need to eat something.”

Suddenly, Baekhyun handed a packet of bun to Jongdae. “Eat this.”

“Oh. But it’s yours, I shouldn’t.”

“Don’t worry, there’s no poison in it.” Baekhyun retorted. “Just take it and eat it before Luhan grows white hair from fussing over you.”

Jongdae nodded once, accepting the bun. “Thank you.”

“Baekhyun, since you’ve finished your work for the day, why don’t you go off now?” Luhan suggested. “I’ll call you if there’s anything I need.”

Baekhyun stared at him, jaw dropped slightly in disbelief, and looking slightly bemused. All he did was offer Luhan’s ‘precious Jongdae’ a bun to eat. Surely that wasn’t something deserving of being kicked out of the room?

“What?”

“You’re ridiculous, you know that?”

“I am? Why?”

“Forget it.” Baekhyun got up once more, pulling out Luhan’s credit card and shoving it into Luhan’s hand. “Thank you, boss, for being so nice to let me off work early. Goodbye.”

The door slammed shut behind Baekhyun.

Luhan looked around, confused. “What did I do?”

 

 

 

“Jongin is so hot.”

Baekhyun snickered as he reached out for his can of soda, before leaning back comfortably against the sofa in Chanyeol’s living room, where the two of them were watching E-X-O’s performance. The two had already sat through last week’s comeback performances - Baekhyun, because he was admittedly anxious about seeing the final product of his song being performed live, while Chanyeol was an investor in Luhan’s company (which Baekhyun didn’t know about until recently) and had a not-so-secret man-crush on E-X-O’s main dancer.

“I wonder what your girlfriend will think when she hears you.”

“My girlfriend thinks that Jongin is hot.” Chanyeol replied easily.

Baekhyun laughed, almost choking on the fried chicken he was eating. As Chanyeol laughed at him, Baekhyun punched his best friend in the arm in retaliation. Then he remembered something as he continued eating his drumstick. “Oh, Jongin said he loves me.”

“WHAT?!”

“Heh. Maybe I should date him?”

“No-no-no.” Chanyeol wagged a finger in his face. “Idols aren’t allowed to date. I’ll tell Luhan-hyung to keep you away from him.” Baekhyun grabbed the offending finger and bit on it, causing Chanyeol to yell. “What are you? A dog? A teething baby?”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “If you ask me, you’re the one who needs a restraining order. And Luhan himself isn’t setting a good example if he’s going out with one of them.”

“What? Who?”

“You don’t know?” Baekhyun scratched his head. “Maybe it’s a recent thing. He’s so overprotective of Kim Jongdae it makes me want to punch him in the face.”

“Are you jealous?” Chanyeol teased.

Baekhyun glared at Chanyeol with a disgusted look. “Are you trying to imply that I have a crush on Kim Jongdae? Cos I’m quite sure we hate each other’s guts.”

“Ah, the start to the ultimate love story.” Chanyeol raised his arms in the air dramatically. “But no, I was actually referring to Luhan-hyung. But don’t worry, I’m quite sure they aren’t dating.”

“Hey, I’m just telling you the way I see it.”

“Well, Luhan-hyung didn’t tell me anything and I didn’t notice anything unusual the last time I visited them, which was two weeks ago when I dropped by to discuss some business matters with him.” Chanyeol stated. “So don’t go around punching Luhan-hyung’s handsome face. He might kick your ass.”

“Yah, I’m so scared of that Bambi.”

“Don’t say that in front of him either.” Chanyeol chuckled. “Oh, oh, shut up now. They’re about to announce the winners for today!”

“Why do I tolerate you?” Baekhyun made a face.

“Don’t pretend like you’re not excited. I know you’re getting a kick out of your song being performed and blasted over the airwaves.” Chanyeol said. “Not only that. It could be their first win today! And that will look great on your non-existent CV.”

Baekhyun scowled, throwing a pillow at Chanyeol’s face. “Well, I can’t hear them with you babbling non-stop.” He turned back to face the screen, staring as the numbers moved rapidly to indicate the points total. His face probably matched Kyungsoo’s wide-eyed look when the final scores stopped.

“THEY WON!” Chanyeol jumped up, accidentally kicking Baekhyun in the knee as he did so. “Oops, sorry!”

“Ow! That hurts, you oaf!” Baekhyun kicked Chanyeol’s butt.

“Look at cute Jongin, he looks like he’s going to cry. Even Sehun, who normally plasters an ‘I-don’t-give-a-fuck’ face, looks like he might cry. And wow, Joonmyun has such an ugly crying face.”

Baekhyun ignored Chanyeol as he rubbed his knee, only vaguely paying attention to the thank-you speech, when he heard his name.

“-And thanks to Baekhyun for writing this kick-ass song for us!” Jongdae shouted over his mic.

“Awww, can you feel the love?” Chanyeol nudged his best friend, just as Baekhyun’s phone started ringing. “Let me guess, Luhan-hyung?”

Baekhyun stared at his display, glancing back at Chanyeol. “How did you know? And don’t you dare say it’s because I have no friends and no one else would call me.”

Chanyeol merely grinned, as he formed a triangle with his thumbs and index fingers, mouthing the words ‘love triangle’. Baekhyun bared his teeth at Chanyeol like an angry puppy, before walking away from the living room to pick up the call.

“We’re going out to celebrate the win after the show. Come join us!”

“Why, hello to you too, boss.”

“Don’t call me that.” Luhan said, but not sounding upset. “Where are you now? We can pick you up.”

“Chanyeol’s house.”

“Oh, in that case, ask Chanyeol to come along. He can drive.” Luhan instructed, not letting Baekhyun say anything else. “I’ll text you the details. See ya!” Less than a minute later, Baekhyun received a text with the location of the celebration party.

“Oi, Chanyeollie.” Baekhyun called, as he walked back into the living room.

“What?”

“Let’s go. We’re going to meet your Jongin.”

“We are? Damnit, I need to change into something nicer!”

 

 

 

“You’re not allowed to drink.” Luhan stood up and pointed at the members of the group sitting around the table. “There’s a show tomorrow and I can’t risk having any of you suffering from a hangover on stage.” Luhan picked up his mug of beer, raising it in the air. “Therefore, I will drink on your behalf.”

“That’s so unfair, hyung!” Jongdae whined as Luhan downed the whole mug in one shot. “You should stay sober like us!”

“Isn’t it better for you if Luhan-hyung is drunk?” Sehun whispered to Jongdae, wiggling his eyebrows. “Imagine the things you could do to-“

Jongdae pushed the younger one away. “Stop it! You’re supposed to be our innocent maknae!”

Sehun scoffed, while Jongin laughed out loud. “Hyung, in what way is Sehun considered innocent, especially when Zitao is around?”

“Oh my god, don’t give me those images.” Jongdae put both hands to the sides of his head. “Luhan-hyung! Zitao is ruining our Sehunnie!”

Luhan was not paying attention though, his phone against one ear as he waited impatiently for the line to be picked up. “Where are you? What’s taking you so long? We’re all waiting for you.”

Five minutes later, Chanyeol walked in and quickly picked the empty seat next to Jongin, who was seated next to Luhan across from Sehun. Baekhyun, meanwhile, bounced over to the space between Yixing and Minseok, opposite Kyungsoo.

“Yah, Chanyeol. Who gave you permission to sit next to Jongin?” Luhan asked, as he tried not to pay too much attention to the friendly hug that Yixing immediately gave Baekhyun. “I shouldn’t have invited you.”

“You just wanted me to be Baekhyun’s chauffeur, didn’t you?” Chanyeol put on a look of mock hurt.

Luhan chuckled. “Shut up and drink. But not too much since you still need to drive later.”

Luhan glanced over to his left across Minseok, just to check that Baekhyun was comfortable. The latter was waving his hand, rejecting the beer offered to him by Yixing who was quite persistent.

“Hey, Zhang Yixing, leave him alone. Stop trying to get him drunk so that you can take advantage of him.”

“I don’t need to get him drunk to do that.” Yixing joked, as the others hooted.

“What? No one is going to take advantage of me!” Baekhyun protested, turning slightly red. “I won’t allow it!”

“Not even Kyungsoo?”

“Who- me?” Kyungsoo looked up upon hearing his name, confused.

Yixing nodded as he pointed to his right. “This guy here has been gushing about you.”

“Wrong, wrong!” Baekhyun crossed his arms in an ‘X’ sign. “I was just saying how much I love your voice that I wish I could marry it!”

“No.” Kyungsoo stated bluntly, making Baekhyun pout.

“Damn, he didn’t even get to make a proper proposal.” Jongdae snickered as everyone else laughed, except for Luhan, who was too busy gulping down another glass of beer.

By the end of the dinner, Baekhyun was so full, he couldn’t control himself as he let out a huge burp, causing Kyungsoo to shoot daggers at him. Baekhyun grinned back sheepishly as Kyungsoo rolled his eyes, amused by the former’s antics. Suddenly, Baekhyun felt a nudge from Minseok.

“Hm?”

“Switch places with me. I want to talk to Yixing about something.”

“Oh, okay.”

Baekhyun nodded, moving aside and taking up the seat that Minseok vacated, only to find Luhan leaning against his shoulder a minute later. Glancing to his side, he saw that Luhan was seemingly unaware that he was resting his weight against Baekhyun’s. Baekhyun turned to look at the table to find that there were many empty glasses in front of him, and seeing how only four people at the table were really drinking, he assumed that they were all Luhan’s.

“Are you drunk?”

“Hm?” Luhan turned to him. “Did you say something?”

“I asked if you were drunk.”

“No, I’m still okay.” Luhan smiled, though Baekhyun thought he looked a bit tipsy. “Just a little sleepy.”

Closing his eyes, Luhan suddenly leaned his head against Baekhyun’s shoulder, as if he was going to fall asleep.

“Hey, I’m not your pillow.”

“I know, you’re Baekhyun.” Luhan mumbled.

“Get off, you’re heavy.”

“You’re comfortable.”

“You’re totally drunk.” Baekhyun muttered.

“No, I’m not.” Luhan replied somewhat indignantly, before softening his voice. “I’m so glad I found you.”

Baekhyun’s jaw dropped slightly, as he ignored the red flush going up his neck, failing to notice someone’s eyes that had been staring at the two of them intensely the whole time.


	2. Chapter 2

Luhan placed his bag on the hood of the car as he sifted through the contents inside, before double checking his pants pockets, but was still unable to find his car keys. He cursed, trying to recall where he might have left them as he started walking back to towards the elevators.

Searching through his office and the dance practice room, Luhan still wasn’t able to find his keys, leaving only the studio as the other possible location in the building. He switched on the lights of the studio, immediately spotting his car keys on the table next to a half empty water bottle.

Moving forward to retrieve his keys, he paused when he noticed something red under the table. Luhan bent down, staring curiously at the big, bright red bag, which suddenly rolled over, revealing a familiar face. Luhan’s eyebrows twitched at the sight. Reaching out, he used his keys to poke at the red bag, to no avail, deciding to resort to shaking the other violently instead.

“Wha- what? What?” The other awoke, attempting to sit up while still in the sleeping bag, hitting his head on the underside of the table in the process. “Ouch!”

Luhan laughed, pulling the other out from under the table. “What are you doing here? It’s already 2 a.m.”

“…I missed the last bus and train.”

“And you didn’t think of calling a cab?” Luhan questioned. “C’mon, get yourself out. I’ll give you a lift back. Where do you stay?”

“Bucheon.” Baekhyun answered, not bothering to unzip the sleeping bag. “It’s better if I just stay overnight. Save us both the trouble, and we can get more sleep this way.”

“And exactly how many days have you been doing this?” Luhan pointed at Baekhyun. “Considering that you even bothered to bring a sleeping bag?”

Baekhyun grinned at Luhan sheepishly. “I figured this was a better alternative than travelling all the way back and forth and dying from lack of sleep? Plus, there’s even showers in the building, so…”

Luhan narrowed his eyes. “Go home tomorrow. And stop working so late. You work mainly on your laptop anyway, right? I’m giving you permission to work from home, just as long as you remain contactable, and show me some of what you’ve been working on at the end of each day.”

Baekhyun frowned, shaking his head, which only resulted in him looking like a big red lump wriggling like a giant earthworm, causing Luhan to laugh at the sight. Baekhyun pouted, not sure what Luhan was laughing about.

“Stop laughing at me, and go home! You’re disturbing my precious sleeping time! Did anyone ever tell you how ugly you look when you laugh?”

“I’m more used to people telling me how good-looking they think I am.”

“Pfft, it must be because you look like a delicate being and they didn’t want to hurt your feelings, telling you the truth.”

“Did you just call me ‘delicate’?”

“I said that you _look_ delicate.”

“I’ll have you know that I’m manly.”

“…”

“What? You don’t believe me?”

“…” Baekhyun continued staring at Luhan, before bursting into laughter, whole body shaking in amusement.

“You little-“

Annoyed, Luhan pushed Baekhyun down, moving to sit on top of the other, who was laughing so hard, he was almost starting to wheeze. When Baekhyun finally calmed down, he tried to shake Luhan off but to no avail.

“Get off, you’re heavy.”

“You’re comfortable.”

Feeling a sense of déjà vu, Baekhyun tried not to blush as he remembered what Luhan had drunkenly told him a few weeks back. He was sure Luhan only meant that he was glad to have found such a talented songwriter like himself, but was probably bad with his phrasing in Korean, what with being Chinese after all. Baekhyun decided not to read too much into it.

Coughing to hide his discomfort, Baekhyun eyed Luhan warily. “Are you drunk?”

“No… I’m a responsible driver, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Why would I be worried?” Baekhyun retorted. “Just go home already!”

“Not until you admit that I’m manly.” Luhan stated, before adding. “And promise me not to stay overnight in the studio again... or anywhere else in the office building, for that matter.”

“Fine, fine.”

“I’m still waiting.”

“Didn’t I already agree with you?”

“Not good enough. You can do better.” Luhan smiled mischievously.

“Luhan, you’re so manly. But also heavy. Please stop sitting on me because I think I can’t feel the bottom half of my body anymore due to the lack of blood circulation.”

“You missed out on one more thing.”

Baekhyun groaned in frustration. “Ok, ok. I promise to go home and not stay overnight.”

“Good boy.” Luhan finally moved off Baekhyun, reaching forward to pat the other on the head. “Don’t sleep under the table or you’ll hit your head again.”

Baekhyun wished he wasn’t zipped up in his sleeping bag so that he could punch Luhan in the face for treating him like a little child. Sadly, all he could do was glare at Luhan’s laughing face as the other got up and turned to leave.

 

 

 

“Lu-ge.”

Luhan continued working on his budget spreadsheet, ignoring Yixing who was swivelling around on the office chair.

Yixing was one of the rare young and inexperienced producers hired by his dad, back when L Entertainment was first created and only had a music division, although it already had a couple of outstanding artistes to boast off. That was five years ago, and Yixing was merely eighteen, but age didn’t really matter when you were somewhat of a music genius like him. Luhan supposed that was why his long-time friend could be the strangest person he’d ever met, as most geniuses were. But Yixing was probably also the reason why Luhan was willing to risk it on Baekhyun in the first place.

“Lu-ge. Lu-ge. Lu-ge.”

“What? I’m working on something important.” Luhan finally answered, although his focus was still mainly on his work at hand.

“You’re always working on something important.” Yixing sighed dramatically. “Don’t you ever take a break?”

“I do. Thanks for your concern.”

“Well, I’m not so much worried about you, as I’m worried about Baekhyun-ah.”

Luhan stopped typing, though his eyes did not stray away. “Baekhyun?”

“Yes, our adorable Baekhyun.”

Quickly saving his work, Luhan finally turned to look at Yixing. “And why are you worried about him?”

“You’ve overworked him.” Yixing stated bluntly. “I’ve only dropped by the studio to check on him once in a while, but each time I see him, he just looks even worse than the last time, like he was going to drop dead any time. Although he still keeps trying to maintain his bubbly personality, but he can’t fool me.”

“Wait, are you telling me that you’re suddenly observant and aware of your surroundings?” Luhan looked at Yixing questioningly. He was surprised that Yixing, who was more often than not stuck in his own world, actually noticed anything, when he didn’t see any change in Baekhyun’s demeanour, and would not have believed Yixing if he hadn’t found out for himself that Baekhyun had been staying overnight in the studio for a few days.

“I found him in the studio this morning, in a sleeping bag, under table.”

“That idiot.” Irritation overcame Luhan, when he realised that Baekhyun had completely ignored what he had said the previous week.

“He could stay over at my place.”

Luhan glared at Yixing, who had that typical look of innocence as always, but he knew better. “I can’t risk having my songwriter being distracted from his work.”

“A little distraction might help him to relax.”

“Zhang Yixing.”

Yixing raised his arms up at Luhan’s threatening tone. “Just a suggestion, that’s all. No need to get your panties in a twist.”

Luhan grabbed the nearest pen and threw it at Yixing’s head.

 

 

 

Baekhyun was almost falling into a deep sleep when he suddenly sensed the lights being turned on in the room. He had a vague inkling of who it was, as he heard footsteps approach the table quickly, before Baekhyun found himself being dragged out from underneath.

He shut his eyes tightly, hoping that Luhan would take pity on him and leave him alone. Instead, he felt himself being lifted, and flipped over. Baekhyun’s eyes shot opened to find himself, still stuck in his sleeping bag, and tossed over Luhan’s shoulder.

“What the hell? Put me down!”

“No.” Luhan replied firmly, manoeuvring towards the door.

“I already admitted you’re manly! You don’t have to carry me to prove it!” Baekhyun shrieked as he struggled to pull out of Luhan’s hold without success. He felt Luhan’s hand on where his butt was, as if to steady him. He tried to unzip the sleeping bag, only to find that the zip was stuck. “Argh! Get your hands off me, you pervert!”

“I’m just making sure you don’t fall down and break your head on the hard floor.” Luhan deadpanned, as he made his way to the elevator. Stepping in, Luhan leaned his side against the elevator wall to ease the weight a bit, but was careful not to let Baekhyun get hit.

“Where are you taking me? You’re not going to throw me into the river after you rape me, are you?” Baekhyun accused, although his attempts to escape seemed to have lost steam, as if Baekhyun had given up. Or maybe he was just afraid of falling.

Luhan scoffed. “As if I would want to sleep with someone like you.”

“Yeah, because a certain princess will gladly be fucked by you anytime, anywhere.”

“What?” Luhan asked distractedly, not really paying attention to what Baekhyun had said as his focus was on getting Baekhyun into his car. When he finally managed to get the backseat car door opened, he threw Baekhyun in like a sack of potatoes.

“No, seriously, where are you taking me?” Baekhyun whined from the back. “You didn’t even let me take my bag! My valuables are in there. Hell, my laptop’s in there. Good thing I locked my bag in the cabinet in the room. I demand compensation if anything gets stolen. Unless of course this is my last night on Earth, and you’re really going to throw me into the river. You didn’t deny that part after all.”

“You really like listening to your voice, or something? I’m surprised you’re not a singer.” Luhan rolled his eyes as the car exited the basement car-park.

“See, you’re not denying it!”

“I’m bringing you to a decent place to sleep. And tomorrow, we are going to discuss about your inability to keep your promise, your working arrangement, as well as getting you a more decent accommodation that is not the studio.”

“You’re making a mountain out of a molehill.”

“Look, I don’t want to be accused of mistreating my staff-” Luhan began, but was abruptly cut off by the other.

“You just manhandled me and threw me into your car!”

“I didn’t throw you into the boot, did I? And I’m just bringing you home so that you can sleep in a slightly more comfortable place.” Luhan corrected. “Although I can only offer you the sofa, but it’s better than sleeping on the floor.”

Well, if Luhan was going to generously offer his sofa to Baekhyun, who was he to reject? Sleeping on the floor wasn’t really that comfortable after all. Then again, he really hated how Luhan had basically given him no say in the matter. Was this Luhan trying to show his ‘manly’ personality again? Baekhyun scoffed.

“What now?” Luhan asked, tone indicating that he was in no mood for Baekhyun’s nonsense.

“Nothing.” Baekhyun replied.

Twenty minutes later, Baekhyun found himself lying on the giant, soft sofa in the equally large living room, or at least from what he could see from the light coming from outside. The ceiling-to-floor glass windows gave a perfect view of the night lights.

“Hey, can you help me get out of this?” Baekhyun called out to Luhan, as he struggled with the stuck zip.

“I’ll help you tomorrow morning. Go to sleep.” Luhan waved dismissively, heading off to his room and ignoring Baekhyun’s protest. “Goodnight.”

“Jerk!”

 

 

 

Jongdae kept his eyes shut as he listened from his seat behind, careful to maintain a neutral expression on his face so that it looked like he wasn’t eavesdropping, while Luhan and Baekhyun continued to bicker in the front seat.

Luhan had taken over driver duty today, since the group had an early recording at the TV station which he needed to be at as well, and was going to drop off Baekhyun at the office on the way. The rest of the members already had their noise-cancelling earphones plugged in, eyes closed to catch a few more winks on the ride, uninterested in the bickering couple’s conversation.

“I can ask Chanyeol to find you a place to stay nearby, if money is what you’re concerned about.” Luhan suggested.

“No, don’t you dare do that.” Baekhyun said angrily. “I am not going to take advantage of Chanyeol’s friendship like that.”

“Sometimes, you need to put your ego aside and ask for help.” Luhan sighed.

“It’s not about my ego, alright? I don’t even see what the problem is. Even if I do find an apartment that’s both near the office and affordable, I’ll still lose track of time and end up missing the last bus anyway.” Baekhyun argued. “Plus, I’ve been sleeping over for a few weeks now and it’s been perfectly fine so I don’t see why you’re so upset about it.”

“What? Did you just say that you’ve been sleeping in the studio for a few weeks?” Luhan’s voice got louder.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Okay, if you’re so worried about my well-being, then how about you just let me sleep on your sofa, as I had suggested earlier? You already have the group staying with you, surely one more human being won’t matter?”

“Why are you being so stubborn?” Luhan asked in frustration.

“Me?” Baekhyun pointed at himself. “Fine! I’ll take up Yixing on his offer and move into his apartment, okay? He may not have a sofa as big as yours but he said his bed is big enough for two and he doesn’t mind sharing.”

“No.” Luhan’s eyes darkened, as the MPV pulled to a stop in front of the office. He turned to his side, expression indicating that he was dead serious as he continued with a tone of finality. “There’s no way I’m going to let you do that.”

“And you think you have the right to make the decision for me?” Baekhyun challenged.

“Someone has to take care of you since you’re not able to take care of yourself.” Luhan remarked sharply, but his tone couldn’t completely mask his concern.

Baekhyun stared at Luhan for a moment, before looking away. He bit his lip as he mumbled. “I don’t need to be taken care of.”

Luhan pretended not to hear. “I’ll pick you up later. You’ll have to sleep on the sofa for now, until I think of something.”

“…Thanks.” Baekhyun muttered, before hurrying out and slamming the door shut.

 

 

 

Jongdae blinked, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. The group had just returned from their overseas event. Minseok, who was standing to his right, appeared frozen, after his eyes fell upon the mess that Baekhyun had made in the living room.

It had been a week since Baekhyun had ‘moved in’ to the apartment. Jongdae was hardly pleased with the idea, but since none of the other members had protested, and Luhan clearly wasn’t going to change his mind anyway, Jongdae decided to keep his protests to himself.

With all of them out of the country for a few days, Luhan had insisted that Baekhyun worked in the apartment instead of going to the studio. Jongdae was pretty sure Luhan wasn’t expecting the songwriter to make a mess of the place.

“Hyung, I think you should walk away now.” Jongdae whispered to Minseok, knowing how much the older hated even the slightest hint of mess.

“Oh, you guys are back!” Baekhyun finally looked up from his laptop, pulling off his headphones. “Didn’t hear you guys come in. How was the trip?”

“Baekhyun.” Jongdae turned to his left, where Luhan had suddenly appeared. “I can’t recognise my living room anymore.”

Baekhyun hit his head lightly. “Oops, I’ll clean all this up. Sorry about that.”

Luhan turned to the group. “The rest of you, go wash up and get some rest. You have a day off tomorrow.”

“Yes, hyung.” The younger members murmured their replies as they rushed to the bathroom. Luhan also started making his way back to his room. Jongdae stood his ground though, waiting for everyone to leave before speaking up.

“This isn’t your apartment. You’re only staying here temporarily. Don’t treat it like your home.”

Baekhyun looked up from where he was squatting, in the midst of picking up the rubbish he had thrown around. He knew that Jongdae wasn’t happy about the arrangement, and wasn’t surprised by other’s reaction either. Seeing that the two of them were now alone, Baekhyun decided that it was better to lay things out in the open, if only so that it’ll make his life easier.

“I’m not a threat, so you can stop with your attitude.”

“What?” Jongdae frowned.

Baekhyun sighed. “At first, I thought it was because you’re just a diva with an attitude, and that’s why you were so antagonistic towards me. But then I realised that you were only behaving like that because you think I’m a threat. I’m not blind, y’know? And I’m not going to come in between the two of you, so there’s really nothing for you to worry about.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I think you do. But whatever.” Baekhyun turned back to his task. “I just figured that since we have to work together for quite some time, it’s better for us to at least have a civil relationship. Don’t you agree?”

There was a moment’s silence, before Jongdae stepped forward to pick up the empty cans from the living room table. “You’re right.”

Baekhyun noticed Jongdae’s actions, and turned to smile brightly at Jongdae. “You’ll come to love me eventually. Everyone does.”

Jongdae rolled his eyes, but forced a smile on his lips as he tried to ignore that nagging feeling inside.

 

 

 

Baekhyun felt someone tap him on his shoulder, causing him to jump slightly. He squinted as he tried to identify the culprit, his laptop the only source of light in the dark. The other soon sat down next to him, face illuminated. Baekhyun pulled off his headphones. “Jongin.”

“What are you doing still up?”

“I could ask the same of you.”

“I was playing games and came out to get a glass of water.”

Baekhyun chuckled. “No wonder you always look so sleepy all the time.”

“Same to you.” Jongin nodded at the Baekhyun’s laptop screen. “Still working?”

“Yeah, I’m trying to fix this particular part. Wanna listen?” Baekhyun offered his headphones, which Jongin accepted. Hitting the play button, Baekhyun watched carefully as Jongin listened, but the younger gave no hint on his face about what he thought. “Does it suck?”

“No, no, it’s good.” Jongin said, as he returned the headphones. He paused, as if contemplating his next sentence.

“Be honest. If it’s bad, just say so.”

“It’s not that.” Jongin shook his head. “It’s just… Why are you working so hard?”

“It’s my job.” Baekhyun answered simply. When Jongin didn’t react and merely stared at him sceptically, Baekhyun continued. “I guess I feel that I need to prove myself?”

“We had our first win with your song.” Jongin pointed out.

“Yes, but that’s probably more to do with you guys being popular.” Baekhyun said. “And I need to make sure the songs on your album are good. It’s your first full-length album, isn’t it? I can’t afford to submit lousy songs. You know your boss has high standards.”

“Precisely. And he hired you, so you must be good.”

Baekhyun scoffed. “I wonder if it’s because of that, or if it was Chanyeol’s doing.”

“Chanyeol-hyung?”

Baekhyun nodded. “I didn’t suspect anything at first, but now that I think about it, I won’t be surprised if the only reason I got hired was because Chanyeol put in a good word for me. I didn’t even know Chanyeol had an interest in the company until after.”

“Well, Luhan-hyung has let us hear some of the other music you’ve come up with so far, and I think they’re all really good. I’m sure the final product’s going to be even better.”

Baekhyun smiled. “You’re a good kid, Jongin.”

“I’m not a kid. I’m older than Sehun, and we’re already twenty.”

“The two of you still behave like brats, so…”

“That’s unfair.” Jongin sulked. “Have you seen yourself with Jongdae-hyung? Now that the two of you actually get along, you’re always pulling pranks on the rest of us.”

“But it’s funny.” Baekhyun grinned, before reaching out to mess Jongin’s hair. “Anyway, go to sleep, kiddo.”

“No, I’m going to stay here until you stop working and go to sleep too.”

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. “Brat, don’t you have a schedule tomorrow?”

“Just a radio show in the afternoon.”

“Fine. Don’t disturb me. I’ll just finish up this part.” Baekhyun said, putting on his headphones and turning back to his work.

Baekhyun wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he felt Jongin’s head fall against his shoulder, the younger clearly having fallen asleep. Chuckling, Baekhyun decided not to disturb the other, as he continued working on his song.

 

 

 

“Kyungsoo, your coupling is being threatened.” Jongdae greeted him cheerily as he walked out of his bedroom, too happy for morning. As always, Kyungsoo just looked at Jongdae with his typically stoic face, but turned to look at where Jongdae was pointing at.

Baekhyun and Jongin were seated on the floor. Kyungsoo walked to the living room to get a better view, wondering what exactly it was that had Jongdae so excited. Baekhyun’s legs were stretched out under the table, head leaning back against the sofa behind him, and had one arm wrapped around Jongin’s waist. Jongin’s legs were bent, arms hugging them tightly, his head half against the sofa and half against Baekhyun’s shoulder. Kyungsoo had to admit that he actually found the sight endearing.

“I took a picture, just in case.” Jongdae said as he waved his mobile phone. “The fans will be disappointed though.”

“Well, clearly you’re ecstatic about this new development.” Kyungsoo said, as he made his way towards the kitchen, Jongdae following close behind. Minseok was already in the kitchen, making coffee. “Morning, hyung.”

“Good morning.” Minseok greeted.

“Of course. Baekhyun’s my friend, I should be happy for him that he’s found true love.” Jongdae laughed. “Don’t worry, Kyungsoo. You still have Joonmyun-hyung.”

“Lay off the fanfiction, Jongdae.”

“I think Jongdae aims to write his own fanfiction.” Minseok stated in a mock serious tone. “About him and Luhan.”

“Shhh.” Jongdae hissed, looking around to make sure that Luhan wasn’t around.

Sehun walked in just then, mumbling a tired greeting to everyone as he headed straight for the refrigerator. Pouring himself a glass of milk, he took a sip, before turning to the rest. “Jongdae-hyung, why is your boyfriend sleeping with Kyungsoo-hyung’s boyfriend?”

“What?!” Jongdae exclaimed. “Baekhyun is not my boyfriend. Yuck! How could you even say that about us?”

“Why does everyone refer to Jongin as my boyfriend?” Kyungsoo asked, although he did not look the least bit perturbed, unlike Jongdae.

“Sometimes he’s mine though.” Sehun remarked, completely ignoring Jongdae’s outburst. “The things the fangirls come up with.”

“What’s all the ruckus about?” Joonmyun asked as he strolled in, Luhan close behind.

“Jongin and Baekhyun-hyung.” Sehun answered easily.

Joonmyun looked at Sehun in confusion, while Luhan seemed to look more awake at Sehun’s answer.

“What about the two of them?” Luhan asked, curious, as he took a seat at the table.

“Living room.” Minseok stated, pouring a cup of coffee for Luhan.

Luhan nodded his thanks, before staring at his cup of coffee, biting his lip as he contemplated whether or not to get up and investigate. In the end, curiosity got the better of him, as he picked up his cup and headed towards the living room.

He stared.

Moving forward, Luhan placed his cup onto a coaster on the table, then moved to Baekhyun’s side, shaking the other to wake him up. When Baekhyun opened his eyes, he was shocked at the close proximity of Luhan’s face, whole body jerking away in surprise and causing Jongin’s head to fall off his shoulder. Jongin too, was startled awake by the unexpected movement.

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” Baekhyun put a hand to his chest.

“It’s not my fault that you get scared of everything.” Luhan commented, picking up his cup of coffee and turning away to head back into the kitchen.

“Someone’s cranky.” Baekhyun remarked, yawning. When he was met with silence, he turned to look at Jongin, who was rubbing his eyes, clearly still sleepy. Baekhyun reached forward to ruffle Jongin’s hair. “Let’s go get breakfast.”

Jongin nodded, pushing himself up from the floor. He raised his arm out, offering his hand to pull Baekhyun up.

“Aww, such a gentleman, and so mature.” Baekhyun teased, accepting Jongin’s offered hand. “Are you blushing?”

“Stop it, hyung!”

“You’re cute.”

“Stop it!”

 

 

 

Luhan watched quietly as Baekhyun gave Jongdae some pointers, before Jongdae began to sing the verse again. Yixing nodded happily when Jongdae finished the verse, and Baekhyun gave Jongdae two thumbs up, which Jongdae returned easily, smiling brightly in satisfaction at having nailed the line. Luhan was glad that the two had managed to become friends, making recording sessions a lot more relaxed. Even if it meant he had to look behind his shoulder more often, lest they pull a prank on him.

“Ah-ha!”

Luhan turned towards the entrance, where the intruder stood waving at him. He turned his attention back towards the live room where Jongdae was recording another part.

“Luhan, why are you being so cold to me? We’ve hardly seen each other? Don’t you miss me?”

Before Luhan could answer, he heard a gasp from Baekhyun.

“Kim Jonghyun!”

Said person looked at Baekhyun, face lighting up. “Who do we have here?”

Baekhyun jumped up from his seat, attention clearly no longer on the recording, as he bounced towards Jonghyun, hands reaching out to shake the singer’s hands. “I’m Byun Baekhyun. I’m a big fan of yours. Not only can you sing, but you write such great songs as well. You’re an inspiration.”

“I’m so glad to have such a cute fan like you.” Jonghyun smiled brightly at Baekhyun’s enthusiasm.

“Can I have your autograph?”

“Sure. What do you want me to sign?”

“Damn, I don’t have your CD with me right now. Maybe you can sign my T-shirt? Er…” Baekhyun glanced around, looking for a pen. “Luhan, do you have a pen I can borrow?”

“No.” Luhan replied curtly, before standing up and striding forward, pulling Baekhyun’s hands away from Jonghyun’s. “We can just send your CD over to Jonghyun and he can sign them another time.”

“Oh, is that okay?” Baekhyun looked towards Jonghyun.

“Sure. If Luhan says so.” Jonghyun replied, glancing between the two, and at Baekhyun’s hands that were still held in Luhan’s. He looked into the live room, where Jongdae looked like he was struggling with a certain line. Waving at his junior, Jongdae waved back, but the smile on his face appeared forced. Jonghyun didn’t mind though, understanding the situation. “I just dropped by to say hello so I’ll be off now. See you around.”

“Oh okay. It’s really nice meeting you.” Baekhyun bowed.

“Same here.” Jonghyun grinned, reaching out to pat Baekhyun on the head and taking a quick glance at Luhan to find the other shooting daggers at him. Jonghyun laughed, before reaching out to tap Luhan on the cheek. “Smile more, my pretty Luhan.”

Luhan scowled while Baekhyun snickered, as Jonghyun turned to leave. Only after the door closed shut did Luhan finally let go of Baekhyun’s hand, instead reaching up to pinch the other’s cheeks.

Yixing coughed. “Some people are busy working.” He said lightly, having noticed Jongdae’s eyes being focused on the two next to him, and deciding to help the other.

“Get back to work, you brat.” Luhan ordered, a hint of affection in his voice, as he watched Baekhyun silently mimicking him while rubbing his puffed out cheeks.

Returning to his seat, it was only then that Baekhyun noticed Jongdae’s conflicted look. Frowning in confusion at the sudden change in Jongdae’s mood, he looked at the singer questioningly. “Is there a particular line you’re not sure about?”

“No, no.” Jongdae shook his head quickly, before turning to look at Yixing with a grateful look. “Sorry, Xing-xing ge, can you let me try the high note again?”

Yixing nodded. “No worries. Let’s start again.”

 

 

 

Baekhyun wandered into the dining room and plopped down in the seat next Kyungsoo, where the latter was staring anxiously at his script, which was for a small role that Luhan had asked him to audition for. Wrapping himself around Kyungsoo’s left arm, Baekhyun leaned against the other, feeling the younger boy tense for a moment, before relaxing a little.

Kyungsoo looked to his side when he heard Baekhyun humming an unfamiliar tune. “Is that a new song for us?”

“Probably. I can already hear your voice singing it. I was thinking of having it as a duet, but maybe I’ll write it as a solo song for you.”

Kyungsoo chuckled. “Jongdae will throw a fit.”

“Well, he’s been ignoring me these few days, so too bad for him.” Baekhyun replied. “Sometimes I think he’s a girl with extreme mood swings.”

“Considering that you have a natural ability to annoy people, it’s probably something you did.”

Baekhyun sat up with a dramatic gasp, though his arms remained wrapped around Kyungsoo’s. “Why does everyone always think that it’s my fault? Even that stupid Luhan, who told me to ‘fix it’ because it’s affecting Jongdae’s singing. Well, it’s kind of hard for me to fix anything if I don’t even know what the problem is.”

“Hmm…” Kyungsoo put his script aside, reaching out for another sheet of paper. “Hey, tell me how this sounds.” He sang the verse that was highlighted for him, adding in his own improvisations. When he finished, he looked to the songwriter, who only stared at him as if he was love-struck. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “Please don’t say something cheesy like I sound perfect or something. Constructive criticism would be a lot more appreciated.”

Baekhyun grinned. “You went slightly off key on your first note. I really like the improvisation but you’ll need to add a bit more feeling into it. Otherwise, it was pretty much perfect.”

Kyungsoo nodded once, before attempting again. “Better?”

“Great! You just need to repeat that tomorrow morning and we’ll be done.” Baekhyun smiled brightly, as he reached forward for Kyungsoo’s script. “Do you want to go through your lines as well? I can help.”

“If you laugh at me, I’ll kill you.”

Baekhyun wriggled his nose. “You’re always threatening me or beating me up. I’m starting to worry about your method of showing your love.”

“Maybe it’s not love.”

“I don’t see you pushing me away.” Baekhyun said in a sing-song voice.

“That’s because you’ll just latch back onto me like a leech.” Kyungsoo answered easily. “Are you going to help me or are you just going to cling and be whiny?”

Baekhyun pouted, which had no effect on Kyungsoo, who simply pointed out the lines that Baekhyun had to read, and instructed for Baekhyun to start. “You’re almost as bossy as Luhan.” He complained, before reading out the line from the script.

After a few tries, Kyungsoo finally perfected his lines when Luhan strolled in.

“Kyungsoo-ah, you should get an early rest since it’ll be a busy day for you tomorrow.”

“Bossy.” Baekhyun whispered to Kyungsoo, who restrained himself from laughing.

“Ok, hyung. Baekhyunnie was just helping me.” Kyungsoo said, as he got up from his seat and gathered his things. Turning to Baekhyun, he grinned at the other. “Thanks.”

“Anything for my beloved.” Baekhyun opened his arms wide to ask for a hug, but Kyungsoo merely tapped him lightly on the head with his sheets of paper before heading to his room.

When it was only the two of them, Luhan sat down across the table from Baekhyun, a glass of juice in hand. “Thanks for helping Kyungsoo.”

“Not a problem… But hey, I wouldn’t mind if you decided to give me a pay rise?”

“I’m already giving you free lodging.”

“I sleep on the sofa. And I go back home every weekend to get my laundry done, and have my parents nag at me.”

“Well, I was thinking… If I rearrange a few things, we might be able to squeeze a bed into my room.” Luhan said, looking Baekhyun in the eye to gauge the other’s reaction.

Baekhyun stared at Luhan, eyes blinking rapidly. “Wait. What?”

“You won’t be able to bring all your things over of course, but-”

“Hold on a second.” Baekhyun lifted a hand to interrupt Luhan. “You want me to sleep in the same room as you?”

“As long as you don’t mess up my room and just stick to your corner.”

“No, no, no.” Baekhyun shook his head. “I can’t share the same room with you. Jongdae won’t be happy about it and he’s already upset with me for an unknown reason.”

“Jongdae? What does this got to do with Jongdae?” Luhan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “And you still haven’t spoken to him to fix whatever problem you two are having?”

“I already told you that I don’t even know what’s wrong.” Baekhyun grumbled.

“Did you steal his clothes without asking? I know you keep taking mine, which I’ve repeatedly told you not to do so.”

“Seriously?” Baekhyun gave an unimpressed look. “I doubt that is a good reason for him to ignore me for a few days. When he hated me at first, it was because- Oh.”

“Because of?”

Baekhyun puffed out his cheeks, as he tried to recall any recent incident with Luhan that could have led to Jongdae misunderstanding the situation. Glaring at Luhan, deciding that the other was the root of all his problems, Baekhyun got up from his seat. “I’m going to talk to him.”

“Now? In the middle of our conversation? And at this time?”

 _It’s all your stupid fault, you oblivious dumbo._ Baekhyun thought, as he hurried to the room that Jongdae shared with Minseok and knocked rapidly on the door.

“Yes? Oh, Baekhyun, what is it?” Minseok asked as he answered the door.

“Sorry, is Jongdae still awake?”

“Yeah, he is.” Minseok replied. “I’ll just leave you two alone for a while, then.”

“Thanks, Minseok-hyung.” Baekhyun was forever grateful that the oldest was able to read the situation quickly. Closing the door behind him, Baekhyun looked at where Jongdae was lying on his bed with his earphones plugged in. He stepped forward, moving to take a seat on Jongdae’s bed without waiting for permission, and reaching out to pull one earphone out.

“Hey. We need to talk.”

“About?” Jongdae asked.

“Whatever it is you think is happening between Luhan and I? There’s nothing.” Baekhyun said, getting straight to the point. “I told you before, I’m not a threat.”

Jongdae remained quiet, and Baekhyun thought that he was going to receive more of the silent treatment again, when the singer finally spoke. “You don’t notice it, do you?”

“Notice what?”

“Luhan-hyung, he… Never mind.” Jongdae said, turning away from Baekhyun.

“Hey now, you can’t just stop halfway.” Baekhyun pulled Jongdae back to face him. “How am I supposed to fix this problem you have with me, if I don’t know what the real problem is?”

“You can’t fix it, alright? Just, give me more time.”

“I don’t get it.”

Jongdae sighed. “Things will go back to normal between us, just not right now, okay? I’m sorry that it’s affecting my work, and I’ll be more professional about it and make sure I get all the recording done properly, so don’t worry about it.”

“Why don’t you just tell him?”

“He doesn’t see me that way.” Jongdae said, a sad smile on his face. He stopped Baekhyun when the latter looked like he was about to argue. “Don’t try to give me false hope and say that I don’t know his answer until I try. I just know. And I know that saying anything will make things awkward, and that would be bad for all of us. The other members know it too, which is why they don’t push either.”

Baekhyun moved to lie next to Jongdae, nudging the other to scoot to the other side so that he could have more space. “Honestly, I don’t even know what you see in him.”

Jongdae laughed. “You say this now.”

“What? I’m serious. He’s so bossy, and has this obsession with being manly even though he has a cute, pretty face. Okay, I can see that he treats you guys very well and cares for all of you, just like an older brother. In fact, if you were to ask me, I would say he treats you very well, better than the others.”

“Like when?”

“Like when you were sick. Or how he would go through the dance choreography with you when you were having problems. Or when I was still irritated by you and refused to give you more lines in the song and he would argue with me on your behalf. And he would immediately conclude that it’s my fault when you’re ignoring me.”

“Hyung takes care of even Joonmyun-hyung when Joonmyun-hyung is sick, when in normal circumstances it’s more likely you’ll find him making fun of our leader. He helps me with choreography because I take longer to learn dance steps, and probably because I whine for him to help me. You were being a piece of shit by not giving more lines to the best singer so of course he would argue. And well, he isn’t wrong since it was partly your fault.”

“Kyungsoo is infinitely better than you.” Baekhyun retorted, to which Jongdae merely laughed. “And I still can’t figure out exactly what I did?”

“That’s because you’re so oblivious.” Jongdae rolled his eyes.

“Hey, the oblivious one is that idiot outside.”

“You’re both equally bad.”

“Hmph!” Baekhyun crossed his arms across his chest. “I can’t believe you’re implying that there’s something going on between the two of us. I tell you, there’s nothing. Absolutely _nothing_. Zero.”

“Ah, I can’t wait for the day when I can look at you smugly as you come crying to me about your feelings.” Jongdae joked.

“Never gonna happen.”

 

 

 

“Sorry to disturb.” Luhan said, as he pushed the door to the practice room opened.

“Luhan, you’ve come to see me!” Jonghyun greeted in his typical melodramatic fashion, while Taeyeon giggled next to him.

Luhan handed Jonghyun a CD and a marker. “Autograph please. For Baekhyun.”

“Baekhyun’s the cutie from last week right? You’ve got good taste.” Jonghyun leered. “I’ll tap that.”

“What?” Luhan snapped his eyes towards Jonghyun.

“I’m joking.” Jonghyun sniggered, turning his attention to signing the item in his hand.

Luhan took out another CD and marker and turned to Taeyeon. “Taeyeon-noona, can I also please get your autograph? Baekhyun’s a big fan of yours too, so I figured that he’d really want your autograph as well.”

“Sure.” Taeyeon nodded, accepting the CD and marker from Luhan.

“You really have it bad, huh?” Jonghyun commented, as he returned the signed CD.

“What are you talking about?” Luhan asked.

“You like Baekhyun.”

“I’m just doing this to reward him for his hard work.”

Jonghyun sighed and shook his head. “Last week, when the cutie was shaking my hand, this guy here quickly took the cutie’s hand away and held onto it until I left.”

“Really?” Taeyeon smiled. “I never knew that Luhan would be the type to get jealous so easily.”

“I wasn’t jealous.” Luhan denied. “I was worried that Jonghyun would take advantage of him.”

“Please. I occasionally visit you guys during practice, and you never did that before when I go around hugging my beloved dongsaengs.” Jonghyun pointed out. “I bet that if Taeyeon-noona was to hug Baekhyun now, you’ll be itching to break them apart too.”

“No, I won’t. Because I know noona isn’t a pervert.”

“You’ll still be jealous, I’m sure of it.”

“I’m not jealous.” Luhan insisted. “I’m just protective about my employee.”

“I think Yixing has mentioned about Baekhyun before.” Taeyeon began. “He was telling me about this cute new songwriter you hired, and how you injured Yixing when he suggested that Baekhyun moved into his apartment.”

“I didn’t injure him. I merely threw a pen.”

“Hey, pens are painful things. I once got hit by a flying pen too.” Jonghyun said seriously.

“Zhang Yixing isn’t as innocent as people like to think.” Luhan grimaced. “I’ll admit, I can be a little over-protective.”

“Because you like him.” Taeyeon concluded.

“See, noona agrees with me.” Jonghyun grinned.

“It’s not that. I just think he’s bad at taking care of himself and needs someone to watch out for him. We’re talking about someone who even signed a contract without reading it through.”

“Still in denial, huh.” Taeyeon said, putting on a sad face. “I really want to meet this Baekhyun, though. I want to know what’s Luhan’s type is.”

“I only met him for a few minutes and he was so animated, it was adorable.” Jonghyun said. “You’ll want to hug him.”

“Is that so? Then Luhan, why don’t you get two backstage passes for our upcoming showcase and bring him along?”

“What?” Luhan’s eyes widened.

“You’re not going to deny noona her request to meet Baekhyun right?” Jonghyun added.

Luhan sighed in defeat. “Okay, okay. I’ll arrange it.”

“Great!” Taeyeon cheered. “And good luck with getting your boy.”

“He’s not-” Luhan began, but seeing how the two had already tuned him out, he gave up trying to convince them otherwise, taking the two autographed CDs and heading out of the room.

 

 

 

“Aichorom nol jaju utgemandeulgo, chingguchorom nol gajang pyonhage mandeulkkoya…”

Baekhyun and Luhan ended their harmony, as Baekhyun reached forward to press the ‘stop’ button on the recording. He had provided his own rough demo to Luhan and proposed for the song to be a duet between Jongdae and Kyungsoo, and the latter had suggested recording another rough demo as a duet to get a better picture of what it would sound like. Baekhyun was honestly surprised to find out that Luhan was a much better singer than he thought.

“You know, you have a nice voice, and it’s pretty strong too. Add the fact that you can dance as well, I’m surprised you’re not an idol.”

“I’m not good with public speaking.” Luhan explained.

“You don’t need to talk. You’ll just be the ‘visual’.” Baekhyun emphasized the last word with air quotations. “With your good looks and talent, you’ll easily be more popular than any of the E-X-O members.”

Luhan rolled his chair closer to Baekhyun’s, a smirk on his face. “So you think I’m good-looking.”

“Anyone with eyes can see you’re good-looking.”

“Better looking than Jongin?”

“Different type.”

“And which is your type?”

“I’ll have to pick my Kyungsoo. Talent is important to me.”

“But you already said that I have talent.” Luhan said teasingly, inching closer to Baekhyun. “And by saying that you think I’ll be more popular than the rest, you’re implying that you would have picked me if given a choice. Because I’m your type.”

“How the hell did you even reach such a conclusion?” Baekhyun pushed Luhan away, feeling the heat in face.

“You’re blushing, so I assume my conclusion is right.” Luhan answered.

“It’s not that! I’m sensitive near my neck!”

“Oh?”

“Shit.” Baekhyun cursed when he noticed the evil glint in Luhan’s eyes. “Why can’t I keep my mouth shut?”

“Sometimes, I wonder why too.” Luhan stated thoughtfully. Remembering something, he reached for his bag, pulling out a plastic bag. “I have something for you, by the way.”

Taking the bag from Luhan, Baekhyun looked in to find two CDs and an envelope. Pulling them out, his eyes widened when he realised that they were autographed CDs from Jonghyun and Taeyeon, as well as a backstage pass to the two singers’ upcoming collaborative showcase.

“They suggested inviting you when I went to get their autographs for you.” Luhan said, suddenly feeling nervous. “I’ll be going too, of course.”

Luhan really wasn’t expecting Baekhyun to throw himself at him, arms curling round to pull Luhan into a tight hug. He definitely wasn’t expecting his heart hammering in his chest because of it.

“Thank you! This is like Christmas came early!” The younger one exclaimed, releasing his hold on Luhan and going back to keep his treasured items into his bag.

Luhan cleared his throat, trying to calm himself. Wasn’t it just a while ago when he was teasing Baekhyun? Why was he the one feeling embarrassed now? Damnit, Jonghyun and Taeyeon had put ideas into his head and now he was thinking too much. “It’s not a problem.”

“Boss, just for this, I’ll try to be more tolerant of your nonsense from now on.”

“Don’t call me ‘Boss’.” Luhan blurted out.

“Huh. You don’t like it?” Baekhyun tilted his head, as if contemplating. “Hm, is it because I’m the only one who does it so you’re not used to it? Okay, I’ll just stick to calling you Luhan then.”

“Yeah…” Luhan nodded, biting his lip, deciding he better change the topic. “About the song…”


	3. Chapter 3

Baekhyun rolled around in Jongdae’s bed, hugging the latter’s pillow tightly, a pout on his face as he watched the other packing his bag. Lying on his back, he started kicking his legs violently, like a child throwing a tantrum.

Jongdae zipped up his bag, before sitting on the floor cross-legged, and fixing an exasperated look at Baekhyun. “I’m only going to be gone for the week. Why are you throwing a tantrum again?”

“I can’t believe you’re leaving me all alone.” Baekhyun whined, putting on a sad puppy look to emphasise the effect.

“We’ve gone overseas before and left you alone. Didn’t hear you complaining previously?”

“That’s different. You guys usually came back after two or three days, and I wasn’t your best friend yet.”

Jongdae snorted. “What makes you think you’re my best friend now?”

Baekhyun sat up, pointing an accusing finger at Jongdae. “You cling onto me like a koala way more than you cling onto your bandmates. Are you telling me you like to practice skinship on acquaintances?”

“It’s only because you’re soft and comfortable just like a giant teddy bear, and I don’t want to risk having Kyungsoo breaking my bones if I hug him too much.”

Baekhyun threw the pillow at Jongdae, aiming for the face, but Jongdae caught it easily. “Kyungsoo’s mine!”

“You’re such an obsessive fan.” Jongdae laughed.

“Ugh, maybe I should go to Jeju with him. Why does his stupid drama need to have scenes filmed in Jeju and do they really need a whole week to film?” Baekhyun grumbled.

“Well, I’m not complaining. Thanks to Kyungsoo, the rest of us get a holiday.” Jongdae sing-songed. “It’s been ages since I’ve gone back home.”

“Can you take me home too?”

“No.”

“Why?” Baekhyun started whining again. “I’m wonderful! Your parents would love me!”

“Besides a break from work, I need a break from your melodramatics as well.” Jongdae rolled his eyes. “Anyway, it’s not like you’re going to be all alone. Luhan-hyung’s not going anywhere.”

Baekhyun scowled. “He should. That asshole didn’t let me spend more time with Jonghyun-sshi and Taeyeon-sshi at the showcase. I only got to talk to them for ten minutes before he started dragging me away!”

“Dude, you should be more grateful.” Jongdae shook his head. “Luhan-hyung wasn’t obliged to get you a ticket and a backstage pass, but he did because he knew you were a fan.”

“It probably didn’t take him that much effort.”

“Nonetheless, he didn’t have to even bother, right?”

“Whatever. You’re always going to take your Luhan-hyung’s side.” Baekhyun waved dismissively, just as there was a knock on the door. Jongdae crawled towards the door, pulling it open to reveal Joonmyun standing there.

“Ah, hyung! You’re leaving already?”

Joonmyun nodded.

“Bring me along!” Baekhyun started whining from Jongdae’s bed.

“Ignore him.” Jongdae said, while Joonmyun merely chuckled. “There must be a perfectly good reason why his parents didn’t want to bring him along on their trip to Japan, and didn’t even tell him about it either.”

“Fuck you, Kim Jongdae.” Baekhyun stuck his middle finger at the other.

“I’ll buy you some souvenirs back from Qingdao.” Joonmyun tried to appease Baekhyun, who had his bottom lip jutting out and was looking like a five-year-old child deprived of candy.

“I still think you should bring me along.” Baekhyun said. “Think about it. You’re going with Sehun and Zitao, you’ll be like a lamp post. What about rooming arrangements? Won’t it be seriously awkward for you? You’ll regret not bringing me along.”

Jongdae burst into laughter, pointing a finger at Baekhyun. “You- you think-“

“What’s Jongdae-hyung laughing about?” Sehun appeared next to Joonmyun, slinging an arm over the latter’s shoulder, and resting his chin on the other. “Hyung, can you please tell Luhan-hyung to stop fussing? He’s been going on non-stop since the night before. It’s not like I’ve never been overseas before.”

As if on cue, Luhan’s voice was heard just then. “Sehunnie, did you remember to bring your bath toys?”

Sehun sighed, exasperated as he released his hold on Joonmyun to turn around to face Luhan, who had approached them. “I’m not going to bring them along, hyung.”

“But you always bring them along.” Luhan said, hand holding the said toy and waving it in the air. He turned to look into the room, noticing Baekhyun sitting on Jongdae’s bed sulking while Jongdae was on the floor, holding on to his sides. “Jongdae, what’s wrong? Does your stomach hurt?”

Jongdae lifted a hand, waving off Luhan’s concerns. “No, no, I just laughed until it hurts.”

“Don’t be mean.” Luhan frowned, kicking Jongdae lightly on the ass. “Don’t laugh at Sehunnie. I think it’s cute he has bath toys.”

“I think he was laughing at Baekhyun-hyung.” Sehun corrected, before shrugging. “Not sure why though.”

“All I said was that I think Joonmyun would feel out of place going on a trip with a couple.” Baekhyun said.

“What?” Luhan’s eyes widened, before he turned to fix a glare on the youngest member. “Sehunnie, did you conveniently forgot to mentioned that you were dating Huang Zitao? Why wasn’t I aware of this when even Baekhyun knows? When did this start? Are you saying that Joonmyun’s only going along as a cover? Even if that is very smart of you to think of it, it doesn’t mean I approve of this.”

“What the f-“ Sehun immediately moved to stand behind Joonmyun, using the elder as a shield between him and Luhan.

“Language, Sehun.” Joonmyun cut off the younger, but without any menace. “This is a misunderstanding, hyung.”

“Don’t cover for him, Joonmyun.”

“I’m not. This is just Baekhyun jumping to conclusions.” Joonmyun stated calmly. “If anything, this is more of a trip for the two of us. Zitao’s going home that’s why he invited us to come along and offered to show us around.”

Standing up, Jongdae moved to hug Luhan by the waist, pacifying the older. “It’s true, Luhan-hyung. Baek was just being stupid that’s why I was laughing at him.”

Luhan stared at Joonmyun and Sehun, looking between the two, contemplating. “Are you two…?”

“Hey, Luhan!” Baekhyun suddenly called out. “Do you think I can go to Jeju to find Kyungsoo? I’m sure he’s lonely over there filming. He probably misses me a lot.”

“I’m sure Kyungsoo’s glad to be as far as possible away from you.” Luhan said.

“Yes, he’s enjoying the peace and quiet.” Jongdae added.

“Well _I’m_ going to enjoy the peace and quiet when you are finally out of this apartment.” Baekhyun stuck his tongue out at Jongdae, jabbing his index finger in Jongdae’s direction. Jongdae lifted his hands and put on a ‘whatever’ look, rolling his eyes for extra effect.

Luhan shook his head in amusement at the two’s antics, before returning his attention to the others. “Joonmyun, Sehunnie, both of you should get ready to leave soon. The car’s already here to pick you up.” The two nodded and were about to leave when Luhan stopped Joonmyun, shoving the bath toy into Joonmyun’s hand. “Bring this along in case he needs it.”

Joonmyun nodded. “Ok.”

“And tell Zitao that if anything bad happens to the two of you, I’m going to kill him.”

Joonmyun chuckled. “Don’t worry, Luhan-hyung. I’ll look after Sehun.”

Luhan nodded. “Alright, better get going. Call me when you guys arrive at Qingdao.” He turned to Jongdae. “I’ll drive you home, though I need to send Minseok and Jongin first. Don’t think it’s safe for you to take the train.”

“That’ll be too long a drive for you, Luhan-hyung.” Jongdae protested. “I’ll be fine. It’s better if you just drop me off at the station.”

Luhan frowned. “You sure?”

“Yep!” Jongdae nodded, before hugging Luhan again. “But thanks for the offer.”

Luhan smiled, ruffling Jongdae’s hair. “We’ll leave in five minutes.”

When Luhan left, Jongdae turned around to get his bag, and was about to say goodbye to Baekhyun when he noticed that the latter was staring at him with an irritated look. Jongdae raised an eyebrow at the other’s sudden change in mood. Baekhyun may have been whining earlier, exaggerating about being left behind by everyone, but now he looked… “You look angry?”

“No, why would I be angry?”

“You sound angry too.”

“Shut up and go already, before your _Luhan-hyung_ comes over to fuss over you.”

“Hmm.” Jongdae eyed Baekhyun, having his suspicions over Baekhyun’s mood swing, but deciding against voicing them, mainly because of the lack of time right now. Shrugging, Jongdae moved forward to hug the songwriter. “Don’t miss me too much.”

“Hmph! I should be the one saying that.”

Jongdae laughed. “Yeah, yeah, of course! The moment I step out, I’ll miss your nonsense already.”

“I know.” Baekhyun smirked. “I did say that you’ll come to love me.”

Jongdae whacked Baekhyun on the head, laughing and ignoring Baekhyun’s complaints about domestic abuse as he headed out.

 

 

 

With a towel wrapped around his waist, hair still dripping wet, Baekhyun walked out of the bathroom whistling as he made his way towards the living room. Digging through his backpack, he cringed as he realised that he had stupidly returned to the apartment with the same bag full of dirty laundry instead of getting new ones. He supposed it was time he did his own laundry instead of relying on his mum every weekend (or move back home). Baekhyun still couldn’t believe that his parents just booked a last minute trip to Japan without telling him, only leaving a note on the main door for him.

Walking to Jongdae’s closet, he sifted through the t-shirts but couldn’t find any that were big and long enough. Baekhyun scrunched up his face, as he recalled Jongdae once complaining about Baekhyun’s habit of wearing his clothes without permission. “Stupid selfish bastard probably took home all of them on purpose.”

Sauntering over to Luhan’s room, he easily found one to wear and quickly changed into it, before heading back out to the living. Grabbing his bag, he headed to the laundry room. He was honestly surprised the first time he noticed that the apartment had one, having assumed that the cleaning lady who Luhan hired was also handling the laundry of the members. Apparently, Luhan had insisted the members do their own laundry once a week instead of relying on professional services.

Sorting out his clothes, he dumped them into the washing machine, threw in a bit of soap, and pressed a few buttons before hitting the start button. He moved to lean against the cabinet, humming a random tune to himself which had been stuck in his head for a few days.

“Baekhyun?”

“In here! Laundry room!” Baekhyun shouted back, grabbing the half-empty bottle of mineral water that he had brought along with him and taking a gulp.

“Do you want to go out for lunch?” Luhan asked, as he entered the laundry room. “There’s- What?”

“What?” Baekhyun looked back at Luhan, confused as to why Luhan hadn’t continued his sentence and was now staring wide-eyed at him in a poor imitation of Kyungsoo.

Luhan continued to stare, shocked by the sight before him. There Baekhyun was, leaning casually against the cabinet next to the washing machine, in his favourite Givenchy t-shirt. With no shorts or pants on.

It wasn’t that Luhan was the conservative type who felt uncomfortable by the exposure of skin. No, he wasn’t. He was a guy living with six – now seven – other guys and walking around half-naked was normal for them. Kyungsoo did have a habit of walking around only in a big t-shirt and underwear, while Jongin was the opposite with his lack of t-shirt and wearing only sweatpants or shorts. He’d seen Baekhyun change t-shirts before too, just… he’d never seen Baekhyun’s bare thighs. And after several incidences that clearly pointed to warning signs that he _might_ be _somewhat_ attracted to the younger boy, Luhan figured it’s perfectly normal that he was getting turned on.

“Earth to Luhan?” Baekhyun said, as he closed the cap on the now empty water bottle and started to toss it between his hands.

“Yeah, uh… What was I saying?” Luhan looked away from Baekhyun’s thighs to look at Baekhyun’s face instead, hoping that keeping his eyes elsewhere would help. He noticed that Baekhyun’s hair was still wet, and shit, maybe he was just better off staring at the wall behind Baekhyun’s pretty face. Yes, that was better.

“You were talking about lunch? I’m hungry.”

“Oh yeah, there’s a new restaurant that just opened. Thought we could try it?”

“Sure.” Baekhyun nodded as he continued to play with the empty bottle. “By the way, hope you don’t mind me borrowing. All my clothes need to be washed.”

“Even if I did mind, it’s not like you care?”

“True.” Baekhyun grinned mischievously, as he threw the bottle around himself, only for it to fly and hit him on his nose, landing on the floor with a thud. “OW!” Baekhyun pouted as he rubbed his hurt nose.

Luhan laughed as step forward, careful to keep a safe distance from Baekhyun, _just in case_. “Are you okay?”

“I can’t seem to pull that trick off.” Baekhyun grumbled, before turning to the side and bending down to pick up the fallen bottle. He heard a shriek behind him, causing him to jump in surprise, almost hitting himself against the washing machine. “What?! What?!”

“You’re not wearing any underwear.” Luhan said accusingly.

Baekhyun’s looked at Luhan judgingly. He had thought that there was some bug that Luhan had seen, and was all ready to run out of the laundry room. His lack of underwear wasn’t something that he deemed worthy of Luhan’s screaming. “You shriek like a girl.”

“You’re not wearing any underwear.” Luhan repeated.

“Didn’t I just mention that all my clothes need to be washed? And I figured it’ll be disgusting for me to borrow someone else’s underwear. Unless you want me to wear your shorts or pants without any underwear? Because that sounds quite disgusting too. Neither is it possible for me to walk out to buy a pair of disposables, y’know.”

Luhan was still trying to absorb the fact that Baekhyun was wearing his t-shirt, and only his t-shirt. This was seriously not good for his mental health being. Nor was it good for his dick.

Seeing Luhan’s stunned face, Baekhyun sighed. “I’m sure you’ve seen the others naked before, so I don’t see why you’re freaking out now?”

“I’m not freaking out.” Luhan replied, voice surprisingly still calm. But then again, was that him walking closer to Baekhyun, or was it Baekhyun closing the distance?

“Well, you shrieked.” Baekhyun continued. “One would think I’ve just scarred your virgin eyes with my bare ass. Which I’m offended about, by the way. I have a very nice butt, mind you.”

“Yeah, you do.”

“Not as nice and firm as Jongin’s or cute like Sehun’s but my S-line is fabulous.” Baekhyun said, jutting out his hip for emphasis. “So you’ve got to be blind- Wait, did you just agree that I have a nice butt?”

“Yes, I did.” Luhan licked his lips. “It’s… very appealing.”

Baekhyun blinked in surprise. It was only then that he realised how Luhan had closed the distance and was standing right in front of him, almost cornering him against the washing machine. Baekhyun gulped, suddenly feeling nervous, anticipating something but not sure what he was anticipating either.

“Byun Baekhyun.” Luhan said, voice lowered and eyes dark. “I can’t tell whether you really have no sense of the potential danger around you, or you’re intentionally flirting with danger.”

“Danger?” Baekhyun asked, voice soft. He gasped lightly when he felt Luhan’s finger tips on his hip, pushing underneath the t-shirt, thumb rubbing lightly against the bare skin. Slowly, one of Luhan’s fingers dragged a line downwards towards his thigh, before dragging inwards. “What kind of danger?”

“Such as this.”

Baekhyun jumped when he felt Luhan’s other hand grope his ass, causing him to lean backwards. He was now leaning against the washing machine that was still rumbling, Luhan having taken another step forward. Everything was starting to feel a bit hot, but it wasn’t as if he couldn’t push Luhan away, since the older did leave him room for escape. Of course, the distracting hand caressing his thighs wasn’t helping Baekhyun behave rationally, as he felt something inside him stirring up.

“This. This can be sexual harassment by the boss on his employee.” Baekhyun muttered, face flushing red even as he tried to look straight into Luhan’s eyes to try to prove that he was unaffected.

The movement of Luhan’s hand stopped, but remained where it was, warmth still against Baekhyun’s thigh, dangerously close to his cock. “Maybe I should set a proper dress code for the employee to adhere to.”

“You’ll have to be fair though. The policy should be applied across the board, all your employees need to adhere to it. Don’t just single out one.” Baekhyun said, voice sounding a little too raspy for his own liking.

“I’ll consider it.” Luhan stated as he moved his hand away, placing both hands on the washing machine, one on each side of Baekhyun’s. Baekhyun bit his lip to stop himself from making any noise, but was unable to stop himself from feeling disappointed at the loss of contact. He turned his head to the side, not wanting to make eye contact with Luhan, who only continued to look at him. “You’re not really playing fair though.”

“What are you even talking about?” Baekhyun turned back to look at Luhan, upset about the accusation, but immediately regretting his action when he found Luhan’s face so close to his own. He could feel Luhan’s breath on his lips, and a part of Baekhyun wondered how things would change if he just inched forward to kiss the other.

As if finally coming to his senses though, Luhan pushed himself away, taking a step backwards. “I have spare clothes you can take. I’ll pass them to you later.”

The sudden 180 degree change took Baekhyun aback, and for once, he found himself speechless and at a lost as to exactly what was going on. He wasn’t sure if Luhan said something else before leaving the room, the only two things he could hear were the gears over-working in his head, and the strong beating of his heart against his ribcage.

Left alone in the laundry room, Baekhyun put a hand to his heart, trying to calm it down as he finally absorbed what had just happened. Baekhyun remembered how Jongdae had implied that something was going to happen between Luhan and himself, and how he had scoffed and brushed it off.

“Jongdae.” Baekhyun’s eyes widened, both hands flying up to cover his face. “Oh shit.”

 

 

 

For the whole week after, Baekhyun made it a point to minimise interaction with Luhan. He made sure to pretend he was still asleep in the mornings, curling himself in Kyungsoo’s bed and remaining as still as possible whenever he heard Luhan knocking on the door and checking in on him. He only allowed himself to get out of bed when he was sure Luhan had left the apartment for the office.

Every morning, Luhan would leave a post-it note on the kitchen counter, to apologise for not being able to accompany Baekhyun for breakfast. Every morning, Baekhyun hesitated in crumpling up the note and throwing it away. This resulted in him having a mini collection of Luhan’s post-it notes on a blank page in the middle of his notebook where he sometimes scribbled lyrics.

In the day, Baekhyun would head to Hongdae and randomly pick a café to work on composing new music. On the first day, he had invited himself over to Chanyeol’s office, ignoring Chanyeol’s initial protests only to pack up and run off when Chanyeol mentioned that he was going to have a meeting with Luhan in thirty minutes.

“Don’t tell him I was here.” Baekhyun said before rushing off.

He received a slew of messages from Chanyeol later, asking him if the two of them had argued over something stupid again. Baekhyun merely replied that he was sick of seeing Luhan’s ugly face, to which Chanyeol actually went ‘LOL DUN DENY UR LOVE FOR HYUNG’S PRETTY FACE’ in reply. Although somehow it did stop Chanyeol from badgering him further to explain his strange behaviour, so Baekhyun guessed he shouldn’t complain.

At night, he would rush home to make sure that by the time Luhan had returned, which was often late since the older could be such a workaholic, he would be ‘sound asleep’ in Kyungsoo’s bed once more. He even made sure to sleep in a star-shape, legs and arms spread, and snore, just to add to the effect of appearing absolutely exhausted.

And even then, he couldn’t completely escape Luhan.

Throwing himself into composing, Baekhyun was so immersed in his work that he often lost track of time and would have missed meals, if not for the constant text reminders from Luhan. Whenever he read Luhan’s messages, he would smile for the first sixteen seconds, before frowning and locking his phone. Then he would end up ordering too much food and gorging himself on whatever he ordered.

Overall, it really wasn’t a productive week for him. Despite all his effort, he was still not able to finish his song, constantly finding something missing about the music, or being annoyed at his lame angst-filled lyric writing. It really didn’t help that he was also starting to feel like he was putting on weight from eating too much out of frustration.

“I hate Luhan! Absolutely hate him!” Baekhyun shouted into the phone when Jongdae called to check that he was alive. The people in the café stared at him for his outburst, but he really couldn’t be bothered about them right now when he was having major issues to deal with.

“I take it that it hasn’t been a good week.”

“It’s your fault too! You shouldn’t have left me alone with him!”

“You make it sound like Luhan-hyung tortured you.” Jongdae said, and even over the phone, Baekhyun could hear him roll his eyes. Baekhyun really wanted to punch the lights out of Jongdae right now, because in some ways, this was partially Jongdae’s fault.

“Are you coming back soon? I need other human beings around.” Baekhyun asked.

“The day after tomorrow. Surely you can hang in there for two more days.”

The day before the others were due to return, Baekhyun woke up and saw that it was already almost eleven in the morning. He hadn’t heard Luhan coming into the room to check on him, but seeing the time, Baekhyun assumed the other had already left. Instead of seeing the post-it note though, Baekhyun found Luhan in the kitchen, attempting to make breakfast. It seemed like Luhan was off work today.

No escape.

Sighing softly to himself, Baekhyun padded into the kitchen, quietly taking a seat at the dining table. As he watched Luhan attempting to fry what he presumed to be sunny-side up eggs, Baekhyun couldn’t help but think that even from the back view, Luhan looked good. And then he felt disgusted with himself for even thinking that.

He was really becoming hopeless.

When Luhan turned around, he almost dropped the plate of eggs in shock, having not noticed Baekhyun’s presence.

“Baekhyun! You’re up!” Luhan carefully setting the plate onto the table, next to another plate that contained sausages. “When did you come in? I didn’t hear you at all.”

“Just a minute ago.”

“I made breakfast. Well, more like brunch.” Luhan said as he glanced at the clock on the wall. “They don’t look nice, but they’re edible. I promise.”

“Thanks.” Baekhyun mumbled, as he picked up a fork and stabbed it into the sausage, taking a bite.

The two of them ate silently. Baekhyun offered to wash the dishes, thinking it was the least he could do since Luhan did the cooking. He was hoping that Luhan would leave the kitchen, but the other remained, watching him so closely that Baekhyun could feel the hairs on his neck standing.

“I’m not going to break anything.” Baekhyun said. “You don’t have to monitor me.”

There was silence from Luhan, and Baekhyun was wondered if the older had finally left. But when he turned to check, Luhan had already moved to stand closer to the sink, albeit still with a distance between them. Baekhyun tensed, anticipation crawling his skin.

“So, I was thinking.” Luhan began. “Even though it’s only been the two of us this week, I feel like we haven’t really seen each other in a while.”

Baekhyun puffed out his cheeks, internally trying to calm himself down. There was no reason for him to behave awkwardly around Luhan. It was only Luhan, nothing special about him. “Is that so? I never really noticed.”

“Oh.”

It sounded a lot like disappointment in Luhan’s voice, and that somehow triggered a tiny bit of hope in Baekhyun, which he was quick to quash.

“Anyway.” Luhan coughed to clear his throat. “There’s a football match later. Minseok and I, and some other guys from L Entertainment, we take part in this friendly five-a-side football, against other agencies.”

“Really? I didn’t know.”

“Yeah. We don’t play very often due to tight schedules. But there’s a game today and coming Tuesday. Minseok can go for next week’s game but obviously he’s not here today so…” Luhan tilted his head to the side, eyes looking hopeful. “I was wondering if you play a bit of football and wanted to join us?”

“Um.” Baekhyun looked away from Luhan as he picked up the towel to dry his hands, trying to buy himself time. He knew he should say ‘no’ and give the excuse that he was busy, in order to continue avoiding Luhan. But at the same time, the face Luhan was giving him was probably going to stick to his brain for the rest of the day and distract him from doing anything useful. Hell, he actually missed seeing Luhan’s stupid face in person.

Jongdae was going to be back tomorrow. Maybe he was allowed to indulge himself for just today? Just one day.

Seeing no response from Baekhyun, Luhan continued. “Hey, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just thought that we could hang out. But you’re probably busy, right? You look exhausted every day, maybe you should get more rest. I’ll find someone else to fill in. Don’t worry-”

“Luhan.” Baekhyun interrupted. “I don’t mind, but I’m not that good at playing.”

“Oh, that’s okay! Like I said, it’s just a friendly competition. No pressure.”

“Alright.”

Luhan smiled, eyes crinkling. “Great! The game’s at six. But I need to go home for a while… Is it okay if I pick you up around five?”

“Yeah, sure.”

It was only after Luhan had left the apartment, and Baekhyun had finished watching an episode of Running Man, that he suddenly remembered. “Ah, damnit, I have no boots.”

 

 

 

“Oh, you’re Baekhyun? I’ve heard a lot about you.” Woohyun shook Baekhyun’s hand, giving the other a friendly smile.

“You have?” Baekhyun asked, tone curious. But before he could question further, Woohyun was dragged away by Luhan.

“You know about Baekhyun?” Luhan asked, out of Baekhyun’s earshot. “How come?”

Woohyun snorted. “Have you forgotten that I’m in the same group is Kim Kibum?”

“Stupid Jjong told Kibum, didn’t he?” Luhan scowled. “Why am I friends with Kim Jonghyun?”

“Because even though you’re not obvious about it, you’re both perverts?”

“Ah, I see. That explains why I’m friends with you too.”

Woohyun flashed Luhan a victory sign and a cute smile. Luhan pretended to knee him in the stomach.

“Your aegyo doesn’t work on me.” Luhan retorted. “How does Myungsoo tolerate you?”

“I’m lucky.” Woohyun said. “Anyway, gotta say, this Baekhyun’s quite a cutie, although he’s not Myungsoo’s level.”

“No one is at Myungsoo’s level in your eyes.” Luhan said. He glanced behind him, where he noticed Baekhyun was doing some stretching to warm-up.

“So how far have you two gotten?” Woohyun wagged his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

“It’s not like that, alright?” Luhan punched Woohyun in the arm, before focusing his attention back on Baekhyun. “And I think he’s kind of avoiding me.”

“Why? You’re Luhan. Most people _want_ you to be interested in them.” Woohyun pointed out. “Unless they’re me, because I’m not most people, and neither is Myungsoo. Is Baekhyun the same? If so, I like him already.”

“Hm.”

Woohyun raised an eyebrow, noticing that Luhan was already distracted when he didn’t even bother to counter what he had said. Following Luhan’s line of sight, Woohyun chuckled, shaking his head. He patted Luhan on the back. “Jonghyun’s right, man. You’ve really got it bad.”

“I hate Kim Jonghyun.” Luhan made a face. “At the rate he’s going, the whole office is going to know.”

“Does it really matter?” Woohyun pondered. “Anyway, let me help you.”

“Help me? In murdering Jonghyun?”

Woohyun rolled his eyes. “No, in getting your Baekhyun to fall in love with you, if he hasn’t already.”

“I don’t need help.” Luhan replied in an offended tone. “You said so yourself. I’m Luhan.”

“Well, what’s your plan then?”

“I’ll just… keep it cool. And he’s going to see me today and think I’m fantastic, since I have mad football skills.”

“Yeah, that’s so gonna work.” Woohyun remarked. “Tell you what. I’ll provide you an assist, to incite a reaction in him.”

“…What exactly are you planning?” Luhan eyed Woohyun sceptically.

“Trust me, will you? I’ve even got Myungsoo’s permission to help you with this, so you better thank me for being such an awesome friend and helping you out.”

“Myungsoo’s permission? Do I want to know what you intend to do?”

Woohyun smirked. “Don’t worry. Just do what you always do. I’ll back you up.”

 

 

 

Baekhyun watched in disgust, hands on his hips as he stood by the side, not joining in the goal celebrations. The team’s goalkeeper, whose name slipped Baekhyun’s mind, patted him on the back before returning to his position.

Luhan had just scored his second goal – third of the team’s, with Woohyun scoring one in between Luhan’s brace – and was busy celebrating, if you could call that ‘celebrating’. Baekhyun would rather call it ‘Shameless Flirting and Excessive Touching’, considering the overt way Woohyun’s hands were all over Luhan’s body, and how the latter reciprocated the touches.

Looking down at the new pair of boots he had deliberately bought just to participate, Baekhyun wriggled his nose in frustration. The only contribution he had made was to let in a goal. And he probably wasn’t going to play ever again, so really, he had just wasted his time and money.

When he was finally paying attention again, the opposition was attacking, running at him. Baekhyun wasn’t even surprised, since he was the weakest link after all. Dashing forward, he lunged at the ball, letting out his frustrations in the tackle. On hindsight, it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, especially when he felt a twist in his left ankle as he landed weirdly.

The whistle blew, indicating that another goal had been scored. Baekhyun winced while trying to get up, slowly standing on his good right foot.

“Baekhyun!” Two hands reached forward to steady him.

“I’m fine.” Baekhyun tried to brush off Luhan, pushing the other away, but only succeeded in stumbling and losing his balance. Luhan was quick to catch him. Then, the older manoeuvred so that he was bending his knees slightly, back facing Baekhyun, but with the younger’s arms pulled around his shoulders.

“Are you able to hop on?”

Baekhyun made an annoyed sound. “I’m not going to let you carry me.” He tried to pull his arms back, but Luhan only tugged them forward, causing his whole body to jerk forward into Luhan’s back, putting weight on his left foot. Baekhyun groaned. “Hey, watch it!”

“Sorry!” Luhan immediately apologised. “Just let me get you to the car. You don’t want me to carry you the same way as I did the last time, do you?”

“You’re so stubborn and infuriating!” Baekhyun grumbled, but he was in too much pain and wasn’t going to be able to walk properly. “I can’t hop on.”

Luhan glanced behind him. “Should I carry you bridal-style?”

“Asshole. Go back to your Nam Woohyun.” Baekhyun replied snidely, though he made no move to hobble away. When he saw that Luhan appeared to be trying to hold back his laughter, he gritted his teeth. “Is me being in pain a really funny thing? Huh? You heartless jerk!”

“I’m not laughing!” Luhan said, as his hands reached backwards to cup Baekhyun’s thighs to try to lift him up. With some difficulty, Luhan finally managed to get Baekhyun on his back.

“If you drop me, you’re so dead.” Baekhyun said in his most threatening tone, but to Luhan, it sounded like a tiny puppy growling.

“I won’t drop you.” Luhan replied. “I’m not letting go, so don’t worry. Hold on, okay?”

“Wait, the game isn’t over, is it?” Baekhyun asked, as Luhan walked towards the car. “We just left in the middle of the game?”

“I scored after you fell, so we were winning 4-1 with less than thirty seconds to go. It was over by the time you let me carry you.”

“Hm, and you didn’t celebrate the goal? Shouldn’t you go out and celebrate with the team?”

“Would you rather I went to celebrate the goal and the win, instead of checking whether you were okay?” Luhan asked. “You were hurt. I couldn’t just leave you alone.”

“Stop treating me like a baby. I’m not Sehun.” Baekhyun muttered softly, head unconsciously nuzzling into Luhan’s back, as they reached the car.

“I know you’re not Sehun.”

After letting Luhan help him get into the car as carefully as possible, Baekhyun sat there watching as Luhan ran back to retrieve their belongings. Luhan did a quick wave towards the other guys, before rushing back towards the car. Baekhyun knew it was probably wrong when he felt a bit too happy with the fact that Luhan hadn’t stopped to give a special goodbye to Woohyun.

Luhan caught sight of the small smile on Baekhyun’s lips, but refrained from commenting, not wanting to ruin whatever happy thought Baekhyun just had. Smiling to himself, careful not to be too obvious in case Baekhyun thought he was laughing at the other again, Luhan pulled out of the parking lot to head back to the apartment.

 

 

 

Someone was poking him in the side incessantly. Baekhyun rolled to lie on his back, rubbing his eyes with his fist as he tried to see who was disturbing his sleep. When his eyes focused on the person standing over him, Baekhyun couldn’t stop the grin appearing on his face.

“Welcome home, Kyungsoo.” Baekhyun widened his arms to welcome Kyungsoo into his embrace. Unfortunately for him, Kyungsoo just hit his arm away.

“Get off my bed.” Kyungsoo demanded. “Have you been sleeping here for the past one and a half week?”

“Yes.” Baekhyun tried to shift to one side to give Kyungsoo some space on the bed, but accidentally put pressure on his bandaged ankle. He winced in pain.

“What happen to your foot?”

“Luhan’s fault.”

Kyungsoo snorted as he sat down on the bed. “Everything is Luhan-hyung’s fault according to you.”

“Just stating facts.” Baekhyun replied. “What time is it?”

“Eight in the morning. The others aren’t back yet.”

“Did you rush back to see me? I’m sure you missed me. It’s been approximately 15,840 minutes since you last saw me.”

“Only? Darn. I wished it could have been longer.”

“You’re always so shy about how much you love me, Kyungsoo.”

“And you’re always so delusional.” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “Anything interesting happened while I was away?”

Baekhyun quickly shook his head. Talking about his feelings was the last thing he wanted. “Life was boring without you.”

“I’m glad to know that no matter what happens, I’ll always have you as my biggest fan.” Kyungsoo deadpanned. “Anyway, Luhan-hyung’s making breakfast.” Pointing at Baekhyun’s ankle, Kyungsoo continued. “Do you need me to help you?”

“It’s not _that_ bad. I can still walk, albeit slowly.” Baekhyun said, then paused. “I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to carry-“

“No. Just looking at you, I can tell you’re heavy.”

“Are you calling me fat? Luhan carries me all the time and he never once complained!”

Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow, tiny sparkle in his eye as he smirked at Baekhyun who had not realised his slip. “Carries you all the time? Really?”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant.” Baekhyun said, feeling the heat in his cheeks. “It’s because I’m injured so he just helped me.”

“Hmmm, okay.”

“Don’t try to make it sound dubious! There’s nothing funny going on, alright?” Baekhyun whined, before adding worriedly. “Please don’t tell Jongdae.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes softened. “C’mon, let’s go get breakfast. I’m hungry.”

Baekhyun lifted both arms towards Kyungsoo. “Pull me up?”

“Baby.”

 

 

 

“I can’t believe you dragged me along.”

“It’s boring, watching alone.” Jongdae explained, head leaning against Baekhyun’s shoulder, arms looped around Baekhyun’s. “Plus, you’ve been complaining non-stop about how your ankle hurts, even though I’m sure it’s getting less painful. Figured some distraction would help.”

“I think I’m just here for you to cuddle.” Baekhyun remarked as he took a sip of his iced coke, frowning as Luhan missed another easy shot. Woohyun jogged over to give Luhan a light hug, patting him in a consoling way, making Baekhyun roll his eyes at the show of affection. In the background, he could hear clicking sounds, making him turn back a little to look, but Jongdae tugged at his arm.

“Don’t look. You wouldn’t want to give them a clear view of your face.”

“What? They’re your fans right?” Baekhyun asked, as Jongdae nodded. “So won’t they be busy focusing their attention on you instead?”

“Well I’m clinging onto you now, aren’t I?” Jongdae pointed out. “So you’ll be included in the picture.”

Baekhyun laughed. “So am I going to be plastered all over social media as Kim Jongdae’s mysterious boyfriend?”

Jongdae shrugged. “Possibly. And people will start cursing you for stealing their beloved oppa.”

“Ugh. Then please stop clinging onto me.” Baekhyun made an effort to try to shrug Jongdae off, just as they heard cheers from the opposition team, who scored after Luhan had accidentally given the ball away. “Luhan is playing like crap today.”

“You’ve seen him play before?” Jongdae looked at Baekhyun, finally letting go of the other.

“Yeah, he asked me to take Minseok-hyung’s place when all of you weren’t around.” Baekhyun explained.

“Oh.” Jongdae tilted his head. “So the new pair of red Nike football boots in Luhan-hyung’s car is yours?”

“What Nike boots?” Baekhyun furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Since I was only going to play once, I bought the cheapest pair I could find.”

“It was still in the box, which was still in the plastic bag, and placed in one corner of the car boot.” Jongdae said. “Did Luhan-hyung buy it for you?”

Baekhyun blinked, as he thought back to the other day. He vaguely recalled there being a big plastic bag placed at the backseat, and how Luhan had asked him if he had any boots. Maybe Jongdae was right?

Turning his attention to the game, Baekhyun watched as Luhan hit the post before squatting down in frustration. Again, Woohyun jogged over to comfort Luhan, pulling the older up before they continued on with the game.

“Don’t you get fed up seeing the two of them?”

“Luhan-hyung’s just off-form today.” Jongdae said defensively.

“Not that! I mean the way the two of them are always finding any excuse to touch each other!” Baekhyun exclaimed in an annoyed tone. “Even Minseok-hyung doesn’t bother to console him every time he misses an easy shot.”

“Are you talking about Luhan-hyung and Woohyun-sunbae?”

“Of course. Do you see anyone else flirting out there?”

“Flirting? They don’t look like they’re flirting to me.” Jongdae replied. “I know that Woohyun-sunbae has been friends with Luhan since he was a trainee.”

“You’re not jealous?”

“No, I’m not.” Jongdae paused. “But it seems like you are.”

“What? I’m not jealous! Me? Why would I be? If anything, I’m jealous on your behalf!” Baekhyun waved his hands about. Jongdae laughed at the flustered look on Baekhyun’s face, shaking his head in amusement as he patted Baekhyun on the head to try to calm down the other.

Just then, the team let in another goal. At the restart, Luhan quickly dribbled his way towards goal, dinking his way past tackles until he was one on one with the keeper, only for his shot to fly way over the goal post. Putting his hands to his face, he felt Woohyun pulling him into a comforting hug.

“You need to focus and not get distracted by them.” Woohyun muttered, sounding equally frustrated even if his consoling actions appeared otherwise. Luhan knew that Woohyun was hugging him only because he was helping to make Baekhyun jealous.

“I’m trying. But can’t they stop clinging to each other for an hour?” Luhan grumbled.

“Jongdae’s always been affectionate.” Woohyun said. “You need to buck up.”

“OI LUHAN!”

Looking to where the few spectators were seated, Luhan saw Baekhyun standing up, pointing a finger at him.

“You idiot! Are you a damsel in distress who needs comforting every time you miss a shot? You’re playing utter rubbish football so just suck it up! If you’re a real man, score a hat-trick and win this match!”

“Oh my God, can you please sit down and not attract so much attention? Doesn’t your foot hurt from standing? Sit down!” Luhan heard Jongdae ask as he pulled Baekhyun to sit down.

Woohyun chuckled. “Is he jealous? At least something’s going our way today.”

“He just called me a damsel in distress.” Luhan narrowed his eyes at Woohyun. “It’s all your fault.”

“Not my fault that you get jealous over your cutie cuddling with someone else, and thus can’t even score a simple tap-in.” Woohyun kicked Luhan in the butt lightly. “Now go show your cutie what you can do.”

In the next few minutes, Luhan proceeded to score two goals, levelling the score-line. He glanced at Baekhyun and Jongdae, who were busy cheering for him. Minseok tapped him on his shoulder.

“One more goal, eh?” Minseok gave him a thumbs up, before using his thumb to point towards Baekhyun. “Otherwise, Baekhyun might explode into another tirade.”

Luhan grinned. “Leave it to me.”

The next few minutes saw his chances constantly being blocked or saved though. With the clock ticking down, Woohyun gave one last shot, Luhan running in. The ball hit the post and landed at Luhan’s feet, who slot in the winning goal in the dying seconds, sealing his hat-trick and the team’s victory.

Luhan turned towards Baekhyun, who was on his feet, bouncing up and down despite the injured ankle, smiling brightly at him. Instinctively, he ran towards Baekhyun, wanting to hug the other in celebration. But at the last second, when he realised what he was about to do, he steered to the side to embrace Jongdae instead.

The smile on Baekhyun’s face dropped immediately. Jongdae himself looked slightly surprised, but happy nonetheless, and Baekhyun knew that he should be happy for his friend. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to smile about it, and so he looked away, not wanting Jongdae or anyone to spot the look of disappointment on his face.

“Hey, you okay?” Minseok asked as he approached them.

“Ah, yeah, yeah.” Baekhyun nodded quickly. “It’s… my ankle. Shouldn’t have been jumping just now.” He lied. “Now it hurts a bit because I was being stupid.” Yeah, now his heart was kind of hurting because he’s stupid.

“Let me help you.” Minseok held Baekhyun’s arm as they started walking away from the crowd. “Are you okay to sit here and wait for us to shower and get back? I don’t have Luhan’s car keys with me.”

“Don’t worry Minseok-hyung. I have them.” Baekhyun pulled out the keys from his jeans pocket. “I can get back on my own.”

Minseok shook his head, not letting go. “I better accompany you. If your injury gets worse, you’ll only whine even more and I’m not sure I can tolerate that.”

“That’s so mean!” Baekhyun chuckled. “I thought Minseok-hyung likes me best.”

“Not really.”

“Ah, it’s always just been me assuming that everyone likes me, right? I bet everyone actually finds me annoying and wonder why I’m still hanging around in the apartment.”

Minseok noticed that the smile on Baekhyun’s face looked force, as if the latter wasn’t joking. Minseok wasn’t really used to seeing this side of Baekhyun, since the younger was always so loud and energetic. “I think you’re like the mood maker. I think it’s good for the group. But, it _can_ get annoying when we’re all tired and just want to sleep and you’re still being noisy.”

Baekhyun laughed as they reached the car.

“You’ll be alright on your own?”

“No problem.”

“Okay, I’ll ask Jongdae to come over.”

“Thanks, hyung.” Baekhyun flashed a grin at Minseok, before the other hurried back to the showers. From afar, he noticed Luhan looking around, but while Baekhyun would like to believe that Luhan was looking for him, Luhan’s actions earlier proved otherwise.

Staring ahead of him as he plugged in his iPod, Baekhyun forced himself to focus his thoughts on anything but Luhan.


	4. Chapter 4

Baekhyun quietly placed his backpack on the floor before sitting down next to it. Reaching forward for his shoes, he was in the midst of carefully putting it on to avoid hurting his still swollen ankle, when he heard the main door open. He paused as he looked up, caught red-handed in his attempt to sneak out of the apartment.

Kyungsoo closed the door which auto-locked, before narrowing his eyes at Baekhyun who appeared frozen in mid-action. Taking off his shoes and quietly putting them into the shoe cabinet, he turned his attention back to Baekhyun, who still hadn’t moved from his previous position.

“Where are you going?”

Baekhyun licked his lips nervously. “Oh, I’m just going home.”

“At this time? It’s past 2 am.”

“Ah, yeah.” Baekhyun nodded, although he had finally put his shoes back down, seeing as Kyungsoo was still blocking the door and did not look like he was going to let Baekhyun leave.

“Can’t it wait until a more decent timing?” Kyungsoo asked, but in a rhetorical tone, as he stepped forward, raising his hand out for Baekhyun to pull himself up. “The crew gave me a lot leftovers, figured I could share with you guys. I’m starving. Come eat with me.”

It was cute, how Kyungsoo sounded demanding but was concerned and clearly trying to stop him from leaving. Somehow, seeing Kyungsoo lifted Baekhyun’s mood, even if not completely. Getting up, he picked up his backpack as he followed Kyungsoo into the kitchen.

As the two ate some of the food that Kyungsoo had heated up, Baekhyun tried to think of another escape plan.

“You’re so loud all the time.” Kyungsoo said suddenly. “Even when you’re thinking, I can hear the gears in your head turning.”

“Sorry?” Baekhyun scratched his head sheepishly.

“It’s okay. You help to scare the ghosts away.”

“Ghosts?” Baekhyun’s eyes darted to the sides. “You mean this place is haunted?”

Kyungsoo chuckled. “Nah. If it was, Luhan-hyung would have moved us out already.”

“Oh.”

Baekhyun fell silent, concentrating on his food instead. He could feel Kyungsoo’s questioning gaze on him, but the younger did not speak up either, allowing the silence to continue. When they were done, Baekhyun helped to wash the dishes while Kyungsoo packed up the remaining food in the plastic containers and stored them in the refrigerator.

As Baekhyun towelled his hands dry, he felt a hand at his elbow.

“If it helps, you can share the bed with me.” Kyungsoo offered. “Just for today, though.”

Without waiting for a reply, he nudged Baekhyun to move, indicating that Baekhyun didn’t have the option to reject Kyungsoo’s offer in the first place. For the first time in hours, Baekhyun felt a smile on his lips, as he grabbed his backpack and shuffled obediently behind Kyungsoo into Kyungsoo’s and Jongin’s shared bedroom.

 

 

 

“Kyungsoo-hyung.” Jongin yawned, one hand scratching his bare chest, as he walked into the kitchen where the rest of the members and Luhan were already seated and having breakfast. “Is that Baekhyun-hyung in your bed?”

“Yes.”

Luhan looked up from his tablet where he had been reading through the news, turning to look at Kyungsoo who continued to eat his breakfast nonchalantly. Next to him, he heard Sehun gasp melodramatically. “Kyungsoo-hyung, I thought you were better than that.”

The implication behind Sehun’s words were clear, and even if Luhan knew the maknae was only joking, he couldn’t help but feel a jolt of anger and possessiveness running through him. He didn’t even bother trying to control his facial expression, pretty sure it had darkened as he continued to stare at Kyungsoo questioningly.

Suddenly, Sehun yelped in pain, pulling Luhan’s attention away.

“Joonmyun-hyung, Jongdae-hyung just kicked me!”

“You deserve it for having your mind constantly in the gutter.” Jongdae shot back.

“Children, settle down and eat your breakfast.” Joonmyun said, playing the role of the mother. Sehun stuck his tongue out at Jongdae, which Jongdae almost returned but for Joonmyun raising an eyebrow at him.

“Why’s Baekhyun-hyung sleeping with you anyway?” Jongin asked, bringing the conversation back to the topic that Luhan was more concerned about.

“He was awake when I returned. That was past two.” Kyungsoo answered matter-of-factly, reaching forward for his glass of juice and gulping down half of it in one go. Then he added. “Looked like he was on his way out.”

“What?” Luhan asked, finally unable to maintain his silence. “What do you mean he was on his way out? At that time? And with his ankle still hurting?”

Kyungsoo placed his glass back onto the table and turned to look at Luhan with an unreadable expression, deep in thought. Then he shrugged nonchalantly, turning back to finish the remainder of his breakfast. “It’s Baekhyun. Maybe he just couldn’t sleep and instead of counting sheep, he thought that going for a walk at that time would help.”

“So instead of going out, he ended up walking to your bed and sleeping there?”

“Actually,” Kyungsoo began slowly, then paused as he took his last bite and finished his drink. When he was done, he finally turned to Luhan again, maintaining eye contact. “I offered to share the bed.”

Sehun choked on his juice, coughing and spitting out a bit of his drink which flew in the direction of Jongdae, who was unfortunately sitting across from the younger.

“Oh Sehun! Watch it!” Jongdae exclaimed, moving his seat backwards. Joonmyun rubbed Sehun’s back, trying to calm down the maknae, while Minseok merely shook his head in amusement. Jongin simply nodded, still in his half-awake state, as he returned his attention to his food.

Luhan stood up abruptly, his chair dragging noisily against the floor as he did so, catching everyone’s attention. “I’m going to check on him, make sure he’s okay.”

“You don’t have to, Luhan-hyung.” Kyungsoo said as he too, stood up, taking his plate and glass to the sink. “I’ll just wash these and head back to the room to check. You’ve not finished your breakfast anyway.”

Staring down at his own half-finished breakfast, jaw dropped slightly, Luhan considered giving the excuse that he was not hungry. But Kyungsoo already had his back turned to him, and his tone left no room for argument.

“Baekhyun-hyung’s still sleeping soundly when I saw him earlier.” Jongin remarked, as if trying to appease Luhan’s worries.

Sighing softly to himself, Luhan sat back down, watching sullenly as Kyungsoo returned to his room.

 

 

 

“Do you have an appointment made to meet Mr. Park?”

Baekhyun stared blankly at the receptionist, who was eyeing him with a suspicious gaze. It had been so much easier for him to get into Chanyeol’s office the week before, but he supposed that was because he had called Chanyeol and forced the latter to give him access. Pushing up his glasses that had slid down the bridge of his nose, Baekhyun bit his lips, before an idea hit him. “I’m from Shinjitsu Records. My boss sent me here. I’m sure he contacted Chanyeol beforehand.”

“Do you have any proof of identity?”

Digging into his pocket, Baekhyun was glad that he had thankfully brought his employee pass along with him, and showed it to the receptionist. “See, this face here, that’s me. Look, same person.” Baekhyun pointed at the photo and at his own face. Before pointing at the words on the card. “And it says here, Shinjitsu Records.”

The receptionist still looked sceptical, but finally agreed to check the system. Baekhyun suggested that she call Chanyeol instead to check with her boss directly but she ignored his suggestion, simply telling him with an extremely serious face that because no appointment had been made prior to this, and for security reasons, she was not allowed to give him access into the office.

Baekhyun ruffled his hair in frustration, pulling up his backpack and turning to leave, when he heard his name being called.

“Baek?”

“Chanyeol!” Baekhyun exclaimed, ignoring the stares he got as he grinned brightly while shuffling his way towards his best friend. “I tried calling you earlier but you didn’t pick up your phone and your receptionist wouldn’t let me go up to your office.”

“Just came back from a meeting with a client.” Chanyeol explained, greeting the bowing security guards and said receptionist as he walked past them. “My phone battery’s low so I left it charging upstairs.”

“Isn’t it dangerous to leave your phone around like that? What if there’s top secret information that can be easily stolen?” Baekhyun asked. “Hey, slow down.”

“That’s what my work phone is for.” Chanyeol pulled out said work phone from the inside pocket of his jacket, as he slowed down his pace. “And I don’t know why but I forgot that your legs aren’t that long.”

Baekhyun scowled. “Shut up you giant. I sprained my ankle and can’t walk too fast.”

“Oh, sorry.” Chanyeol apologised. “What happened?”

“Football.”

“You play?” Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun in surprised as the two entered the lift.

“I was asked to.”

“By Luhan-hyung?”

“Hey, is it okay that I work in your office again?” Baekhyun asked, changing the topic.

“This is the second time in two weeks you’ve come barging to my office.” Chanyeol raised an eyebrow as the lift reached the top floor, the two stepping out. “I doubt my office is the most conducive of environments for you.”

“But we haven’t spent time together recently, so this would kill two birds with one stone.”

Stopping at his secretary’s desk, Chanyeol collected some document files from her. When they finally entered Chanyeol’s office, Baekhyun took off his backpack and placed it on the floor, before taking off his shoes and resting his injured foot on the leather sofa.

“Yes, yes, make yourself right at home.” Chanyeol said as he sat behind his desk, eyes scanning through the first document.

Ignoring Chanyeol’s jibe, Baekhyun stared lazily at his best friend from where he sat. “You look busy.”

“If I wasn’t busy, I’ll be extremely concerned about the company’s performance.” Chanyeol stated.

Slowly making his way over to Chanyeol’s desk, Baekhyun pulled out the seat and settled down across from Chanyeol. Elbows on the desk and head propped by both his hands, fingers splayed out against his cheeks, he started to stare at Chanyeol’s face, as the latter continued to read his document. Despite this, Chanyeol was still able to concentrate on his work at hand, stopping only after he finished the section. Closing the file, he finally looked up at Baekhyun.

“So, has my beautiful face managed to heal you and give you some extra energy for the rest of the day?”

Baekhyun raised a question of his own. “How come I didn’t fall in love with you?”

“Beats me, especially when I’m so irresistible.”

“Isn’t it strange though? You’re good-looking, and we get along really well.” Baekhyun said. “And yet, I was never attracted to you in the romantic sense. Why?”

“Is there a reason why you’re suddenly wondering about your lack of attraction towards me?” Chanyeol raised an eyebrow, especially hearing how Baekhyun actually sounded somewhat serious. “Maybe you didn’t like that I was much taller than you?”

“Yeah, yeah, rub it in, will you?” Baekhyun made a face. “Height doesn’t make everything, alright?”

“That’s what short people like to say.”

“You know what? I think this is exactly why I never had a crush on you. You can be annoying as hell.”

“Pot calling the kettle black.” Chanyeol retorted. “Anyway, it’s a good thing, isn’t it? If you had a crush on me, not only would have things been awkward, it’ll also hurt like a bitch for you to have a one-sided love.”

Baekhyun nodded solemnly. “Yes, I sometimes forget that you’re straight, especially when you’re gushing about Jongin.”

“Why are we talking about this though?” Chanyeol asked, looking at his best friend perceptively. Sensing that they were moving towards a dangerous subject, Baekhyun was about to change the topic but Chanyeol spoke first. “Could this be about Luhan-hyung?”

“No!” Baekhyun spluttered. He wondered how Chanyeol managed to guess so quickly, when it wasn’t as if he had revealed anything about his recent confusion over his feelings for Luhan. “Why would you think this had anything to do with him?”

“You ran out of my office last week when you knew that Luhan-hyung was coming over for a meeting.” Chanyeol pointed out. “And, I also realised that you haven’t actually complained about Luhan-hyung last week nor today. Since you’ve started working for him, all you ever talk to me about is Luhan-hyung. I hardly hear you talk about any of the other guys even though you live with them too.”

“That’s because there’s nothing bad to say about the rest of them.”

“Seriously, I wish you’ll tell me more about Jongin instead. Anything about him will do.” Chanyeol sighed dramatically. “Okay, there’s maybe once or twice you might have mentioned Jongdae or Kyungsoo, but otherwise, it’s always Luhan this, Luhan that. It’s obvious that he’s gotten to you.”

“You’re exaggerating.” Baekhyun leaned back in his seat, arms crossed, pout forming on his lips. “I couldn’t give a damn about him if he wasn’t so… frustrating!”

“Frustrating to the point you would randomly come to my office twice, and randomly wonder about why you’re not attracted to me?” Chanyeol gave Baekhyun a judging look. “Ah, I get it now. You’re attracted to him but you don’t understand why, so you come up with a whole bunch of reasons why you shouldn’t be attracted to him. Except it doesn’t work, because you’re still affected by whatever he does.”

“Stop talking like you’re some love expert.”

“I’m not. Just pointing out the truth, that’s all.” Chanyeol gave an impish smile. “That’s what best friends do.”

“You’re so annoying.” Baekhyun whined, stomping his foot against the carpeted floor before wincing in pain. “Shit, wrong foot.”

“You’re clearly an idiot.”

“I am, aren’t I?” Baekhyun put his hands to his face. “Chanyeollie, what do I do? Help me stop thinking about that asshole!”

“Is it really a bad thing?” Chanyeol asked, not really understanding why Baekhyun was making such a fuss. “Or are you worried that Luhan-hyung won’t return your feelings? I’m meeting him tomorrow to discuss something so I could sound him out.”

“No, no, no, no, no.” Baekhyun stared at Chanyeol in horror. “Please do not do that. Don’t ruin my life.”

“You make everything sound so dramatic.” Chanyeol rolled his eyes. “Fine, I won’t ask him anything. But how else are you going to find out about his feelings towards you?”

“I don’t need to know that. I just need to, y’know, stop having these weird feelings.”

“Your feelings aren’t weird, Baek. There’s nothing wrong with you being in love with Luhan-hyung?”

“I’m not ‘in love’. I just have confusing feelings and thoughts which I should not have.” Baekhyun waved his hands about in the air. “So you need to help me think of ways to stop this.”

“Distract yourself with work?”

“Tried that last week. If anything, this is distracting me _from_ work instead, considering that I’ve been working on the same song and still can’t come up with the final product.”

“Distract yourself with other people then?” Chanyeol shrugged. “I still think you should just go for it. You’re cute and I know Luhan-hyung has a huge soft spot for cute guys. Just look at the guys he picked for his group.”

“That’s an idol group we’re talking about. Of course he needs to pick cute guys to attract female fans.”

“Fine, fine.” Chanyeol shook his head in exasperation. “I think no matter what I say, you’ve already convinced yourself that you’re not supposed to fall in love- wait, sorry, to have confusing feelings and thoughts about Luhan-hyung.”

Baekhyun pointed his index finger at Chanyeol. “Yes, you’ve got that absolutely right.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I can also tell you that it’s not that easy to just stop having those feelings. So good luck with that.”

“You suck.” Baekhyun grumbled, before resting his head on Chanyeol’s desk, closing his eyes and wishing that Chanyeol’s words didn’t have any truth in them.

 

 

 

If it wasn’t for his quick instincts, Luhan was sure the door would have slammed right in his face and caused a huge bruise. Scowling, he pulled out his phone and dialled Woohyun’s number, putting the phone to his ear while his other free hand jabbed incessantly at the door bell.

“Open the door.” Luhan demanded the moment Woohyun finally answered the call.

“Hm? I’m not in right now.”

“Yah Nam Woohyun! I can even hear the sound of the doorbell through this call!”

“But I’m having the day off today, so why are you here?!” Luhan could hear the whine in Woohyun’s voice. “Don’t you have work to do?”

“I’ve already dropped off the guys at the office. They’re having dance practice so there’s no need for me to stay and watch.” Luhan explained. “Now open the door.”

“But I thought you always stayed to watch their dance practices if you weren’t busy with other things?” Woohyun complained. “Can’t you just- No, wait, Myungsoo, don’t!”

The door finally opened, Myungsoo greeting Luhan sleepily. “Morning, hyung.”

“Good morning, Myungsoo-ah.” Luhan greeted him cheerily as he stepped into their apartment and plopped himself onto the sofa, quickly making himself at home.

“I bet you checked our schedules before coming over.” Woohyun scowled as he kicked Luhan’s thigh before sitting down next to him. “Where’s your lover boy?”

“Luhan-hyung’s attached?” Myungsoo blinked. Woohyun widened his arms invitingly, and Myungsoo yawned as he settled himself between Woohyun’s legs. Turning back to look at Woohyun, “Oh, is it that person you mentioned? Baek-something.”

“Baekhyun.” Luhan replied, before rolling onto his side and stuffing his face into the cushion. “He’s avoiding me again. It’s all your fault, Nam Woohyun.”

“Please do not drool on our cushions.” Woohyun, one hand poking at Luhan’s sides while the other played with Myungsoo’s hair. “And he looked jealous, so I personally thought I succeeded in my assignment. You’re the one who screwed up later.”

“What did Luhan-hyung do?” Myungsoo turned to look at Woohyun, curious. Upon hearing Woohyun’s explanation, Myungsoo stated bluntly. “Oh, Luhan-hyung’s dumber than I thought.”

Luhan lifted his face off the cushion, scrunching his nose as he looked at the couple. “Why? What did I do wrong?”

“You made your lover boy think that you like Jongdae instead.” Woohyun chided, shaking his head.

Luhan groaned. “Please stop calling Baekhyun ‘lover boy’. Sounds so greasy especially when you say it.”

The thing was, it wasn’t that Luhan didn’t know him hugging Jongdae had affected Baekhyun. He wasn’t sure if Woohyun was right though, since he was more inclined to believe that Baekhyun was jealous that someone else was hugging Jongdae. But if Luhan had indeed hugged Baekhyun instead of changing track at the last minute, he was quite sure that the rush of adrenaline would lead him to kiss Baekhyun right there and then in front of everyone.

He can imagine Baekhyun punching the daylights out of him if he had done that.

“Are you really just going to mope here?” Woohyun slapped Luhan’s side violently. “Myungsoo and I would like to spend our free time alone.”

“That hurts a lot.” Luhan rubbed at his thigh, before dramatically rolling down onto the carpeted floor. He curled himself up into a ball as he started rolling on it.

Woohyun put a socked foot out to stop Luhan mid-roll. “Please stop. Do you think you’re the lead in a drama series?”

“Woohyunie, don’t be mean.” Myungsoo cut in. “Your plan to make him jealous sounded like a bad plot too, and surely didn’t help Luhan-hyung.”

“But you gave me permission.” Woohyun pouted, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s waist.

“Didn’t mean that I thought it was a good idea.”

“Then why didn’t you say something to stop him!” Luhan grumbled, moving away from Woohyun’s foot and continuing to roll on the floor.

Myungsoo shrugged. “Figured that you were smart enough not to follow his plan?”

“Ugh!” Luhan made a noise of frustration. “And I’m so confused now because I thought he likes Jongdae but he’s been sleeping in the same bed as Kyungsoo for the past two nights.”

“Maybe he’s trying to make you jealous!” Woohyun suggested. “Although really, you’re the type who would even get jealous of the canteen lady if Baekhyun smiles at her.”

Luhan finally stopped rolling about and uncurled himself, lying flat on his back on the floor. He scowled as he remembered a scene he had witness some time ago. “He does by the way. Flirts with the whole lot of them to get more food.”

The couple laughed, which only annoyed Luhan further. “Yes, yes, please go ahead and laugh at me. I’m glad to be of entertainment.”

“I know! You should serenade him with love songs.” Woohyun piped up after he had calm down from laughing, wiping the tears that had formed at the corner of his eyes. “Stand outside his window and sing love songs until even his neighbours get sick of you and start shouting for him to accept you already. Just like the movies.”

“How do you tolerate him?” Luhan pointed at Woohyun with a disgusted look. “Don’t tell me he did that?”

“No, he didn’t.” Myungsoo shook his head, a smile on his face as he recalled the fond memories, but declined to elaborate further. “Maybe you should just confess to him in a simple way.”

“Hey, you rejected me when I confessed first.” Woohyun pointed out. “Pretty sure I did it in a simple way too.”

Myungsoo leaned back against Woohyun’s chest. “But I still fell in love with you in the end, didn’t I?”

“Yo, yo, yo, I’m still here!” Luhan waved at the couple from where he still lay on the floor. “Can you two not be all lovey-dovey in front of heartbroken me?”

“Go away then. Stop disturbing us.” Woohyun retorted.

“Fine!” Luhan sighed as he forced himself up. “I have a meeting to attend later anyway, so I should get changed.”

“Good luck with Baekhyun.” The couple waved at Luhan, as he let himself out.

 

 

 

“So…” Chanyeol began as Luhan started packing up after their discussion. “Baekhyun came to my office yesterday.”

Luhan, who had been concentrating on squeezing all his things into his bag, whipped his head up so quickly that Chanyeol was worried the other might suffer from whiplash. “He did?”

“Yeah, came barging in without prior notice.” Chanyeol said. “Seemed pretty depressed about something.”

“Depressed?” Luhan scoffed. “Why would he be depressed? He should be ecstatic that Kyungsoo-ah has been letting him sleep on the same bed for the past two nights.”

“Really?” Chanyeol asked, surprised. Looking at Luhan’s displeased expression, and remembering the conversation he had with Baekhyun the day before, he thought of something. “Oh… Hm…”

“What?”

“Baekhyun asked me about getting a place to rent…”

“He what?”

Chanyeol tried his best to control his laughter upon seeing Luhan’s facial expression. Keeping a straight face, he continued. “Yeah, I was surprised too since he never liked asking me for help with this kind of thing.”

“I’m not kicking him out of the apartment.” Luhan huffed in annoyance. “I’ll talk to him.”

“It’s not really a bother for me, hyung.”

“You’re busy enough. I’ll talk to him.” Luhan said as he stood up, lifting his bag to his shoulder. “Thanks for today.”

“No problem, hyung.” Chanyeol stood up as well to walk Luhan to the door. “Good luck with Baekhyun.”

Luhan made an annoyed face, before waving and heading to his next destination.

 

 

 

“Why are you thinking of moving out?”

“Huh?” Baekhyun stared at Luhan, who had cornered him, of all places, in the toilet. Followed him right in and locked the door, ignoring Baekhyun’s protest.

“Don’t act dumb. Chanyeol told me about it this afternoon, that you asked for his help to find a place to rent.”

“Chanyeol?” Baekhyun was getting more confused, before he realised that his best friend might have meddled after all. He didn’t know why Chanyeol would lie about such a thing, but what appears right now to be Luhan’s angry reaction to such news was even more baffling. Shouldn’t Luhan be happy to be rid of him?

“No. Why would I want to get rid of you?”

Oh, he must have voiced out the last part of his thoughts. “Look, I don’t know what Chanyeol said, but for the record, I can’t exactly move out of here, since I’ve never really moved in.”

“Move in, then. You might as well, right?”

“From what I’ve heard from the guys, you had to turn your bachelor pad into a dormitory to accommodate six of them. Now you’re asking me to move in too?” Baekhyun looked at Luhan questioningly. “Are you short of income and need to earn rent or something?”

“Did I say that I’m charging you rent?”

“No. You didn’t. But you could be intending to deduct the rent out of my next month’s salary.”

Luhan rolled his eyes upon hearing Baekhyun’s accusation. “If I wanted to do that, I would have done so since the day you started sleeping on my sofa.”

“You were the one who insisted on me staying here!” Baekhyun replied indignantly. “Anyway, can’t we just leave things at the status quo? It’s not like there’s any room for me to move into.”

“My room. Move into my room.” Luhan said. “I did suggest this before.”

“And I told you I can’t do that because Jongdae would be upset!” Baekhyun said exasperatedly.

“And yet you don’t worry about Jongdae being upset with you sharing the same bed as Kyungsoo?” Luhan asked, eyebrow raised, voice upped a notch.

Baekhyun lifted his arms in the air in exasperation, not understanding how Luhan could be so oblivious about Jongdae’s feelings. “Why would he be upset over that? It’s Kyungsoo.”

“Well, I’m upset about it!” Luhan snapped as he stepped forward, making Baekhyun lean back against the sink as he placed his hands on each side, arms blocking Baekhyun’s escape. Baekhyun gasped as he felt Luhan leaning even closer, forehead touching his own. Luhan’s eyes were shut, his lips so, so close. “So please… Please don’t go to Kyungsoo. Come to me.”

“Luhan…” Baekhyun breathed out, heartbeat thundering in his ears. He was scared that if he made any move, it would be one that he would regret later. It was just the two of them, all alone in their own world, and Baekhyun was so close to giving in.

A loud knocking on the door broke the spell.

“Sorry, whoever is it in there, can I come in? I really, really need to use the bathroom right now.”

Jongdae’s voice broke Baekhyun out of whatever trance he was caught in, as he pushed Luhan away forcefully, mad at Luhan and even madder at himself. He couldn’t do this. Not to Jongdae.

“Oh.” Jongdae said as he noticed Baekhyun running past him without a word, while Luhan still stood there by the sink, looking past Jongdae at the direction where Baekhyun had ran off too. It was only after they heard Baekhyun slamming the door shut that Luhan finally turned to look at Jongdae.

“Sorry, you can use the bathroom.”

“Luhan-hyung.”

“It was just another one of our silly arguments. Don’t worry, Jongdae-ah.” Luhan forced a smile, mistaking Jongdae’s sad expression as one of worry. “Only an idiot would try to run off with an injured foot. I’ll go look for him.”

“No, Luhan-hyung.” Jongdae placed a hand on Luhan’s arm to stop the older. “Let me look for him. I’ll go after I’m done.”

“It’s late. There might be people outside.” Luhan hesitated, as he referred to some of the group’s fans who often waited outside of the apartment complex.

“I’ll be careful.” Jongdae said, before making a face. “I just really need to use the toilet right now.”

Luhan chuckled lightly as he nodded, reluctantly giving in.

 

 

 

“Why am I so freaking stupid?” Baekhyun whined as he limped towards the swings and carefully sat down on one of them.

In his haste to get away from Luhan and Jongdae, Baekhyun had ran out without thought for his poor, injured ankle and was now paying the price. He had only made it as far as the playground across the road from the apartment building. Not only that, but he ran out with no wallet, no key, no money. Sighing, he again wondered aloud about his own stupidity.

“I’m in total agreement with that statement.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened as he noticed Jongdae approaching. Well, he supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised that someone had come out looking for him, but he couldn’t help feeling a tad bit disappointed that it wasn’t Luhan. Inwardly, he chided at himself for feeling that way, especially in front of Jongdae.

“You’re an idiot yourself.” Baekhyun said as Jongdae took the other swing, trying to keep the mood light, even if his retort was a little on the slow side.

“And unfortunately, I have to agree with that too.” Jongdae chuckled. “Is your ankle alright?”

“Hurts like a bitch.”

“Probably deserved it.”

“Hey! My ankle’s an innocent party here.”

“Belongs to you, so it can’t be that innocent.”

Baekhyun sighed. “Jongdae, I’m sorry. I would say what happened is not what you’re thinking, but then again I don’t know what you’re thinking so maybe it is what you’re thinking. And I’m probably just babbling nonsense right now but I just really don’t know what to say, so really you should just leave me alone here and let me die in pain, because that’s probably what I deserve.”

“I don’t think you’ll die from a sprained ankle.” Jongdae stated. “And trust me, I would have gladly left you alone if I wasn’t as stupid as you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I spoke to Kyungsoo about you yesterday.” Jongdae glanced at Baekhyun, who was avoiding eye contact, looking at his foot as he rubbed his ankle. “He said he caught you trying to sneak out of the apartment to go back to Bucheon at two in the morning.”

“Nah, I was just trying to get his attention so that he’ll take pity on me and let me share the bed with him.”

“You’re so full of shit.” Jongdae snorted. “Anyway, I don’t know what you told him, but Kyungsoo thinks it’s all Luhan-hyung’s fault. You know, I think he even intentionally pissed off Luhan-hyung on your behalf?”

“I always knew Kyungsoo loves me.” Baekhyun joked.

“So it’s really about Luhan-hyung.”

Baekhyun puffed out his cheeks, before making a popping sound. “I didn’t tell Kyungsoo anything. He just made the conclusion on his own, just like how you’re doing the same.”

“You just ran out, with a sprained ankle, and I doubt you brought anything along with you. Right after I caught you and Luhan-hyung in the bathroom together.”

“Hey, sometimes you guys use the bathroom together at the same time too.” Baekhyun began, but seeing Jongdae’s unimpressed look, he sighed. “Okay, yes, maybe it’s about him.”

There was silence between them. Jongdae started swinging a bit, while Baekhyun merely stared ahead, noticing some of the fans lurking around, watching them. They probably thought that he and Jongdae were having some sort of secret date. Baekhyun laughed at the thought.

“What are you suddenly laughing about?”

“The idea of us dating.”

“Eew.” Jongdae quickly expressed his disgust. “I mean, yeah, I know Luhan-hyung likes you instead of me, but that just proves his taste is questionable.”

“What are you talking about?” Baekhyun’s eyes widened. “He doesn’t like me!”

Jongdae hushed Baekhyun. “Be quieter, will you? It’s already night time and we’re in public with my stalker fans standing over there. They can hear our conversation if we’re too loud.”

“He doesn’t like me.” Baekhyun hissed as quietly as possible. “He hugged you instead of me, remember?”

“Wait, is that what you’re upset about?”

“No. I’m just. Ugh.” Baekhyun pouted. “Can we not talk about this?”

“Fine, you don’t talk. You sit there and listen to me.” Jongdae pointed at Baekhyun. “Since you’re clearly an idiot, it seems like things have to be spelt out to you clearly before you fully understand. Luhan-hyung likes you. Not me. And you, clearly, are starting to like him too. Don’t even try to deny it because I have noticed your awkward behaviour and mood swings.”

There was another moment of silence after Jongdae had finished his rant. The way Luhan had behaved earlier, saying he was upset about Baekhyun sharing the bed with Kyungsoo, and the intimacy between them before Jongdae had interrupted… It did seem to Baekhyun that Jongdae might be right, that Luhan might actually like him. But as he took a look at the sad expression on Jongdae’s face, it didn’t make Baekhyun feel any better.

Baekhyun took a deep breath. “You sound angry. Very angry.”

“Of course I’m angry. I might have already seen this coming, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt like a bitch.” Jongdae sniffed and rubbed at his nose with his index finger. “My heart probably hurts more than your stupid sprained ankle and it will take longer to heal too.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, yeah. And you should stay sorry until my broken heart is healed.”

“Okay.”

Jumping off the swing, Jongdae crossed his arms as he mockingly glared at the other. “Byun Baekhyun, are you going to continue moping here for the rest of the night, or are you gonna eventually get your sorry ass upstairs to serve it to Luhan-hyung?”

“What the fuck, Kim Jongdae? My ass is a precious commodity and he ain’t coming anywhere near it.” Baekhyun shot back, before the memory of that incident in the laundry room hit him, making his face turn red. He was thankful that it was dark and the streetlights weren’t shining directly at them.

Slowly getting up, careful not to put too much weight on his left foot, he put an arm around Jongdae, letting the other help him as he half-hopped his way back. In the elevator, Baekhyun couldn’t help but fidget the closer they got to the top floor.

“Why are you being so antsy? You’re not going to try to run off again, are you?” Jongdae asked when he noticed Baekhyun’s discomfort.

“I can’t even if I wanted to.” Baekhyun sulked. “My pride has been shattered! Ego bruised so badly! Dignity gone with the wind!”

“Geez, why are you always so dramatic?” Jongdae shook his head in exasperation as he unlocked the door. “I thought I’m the one who got the short end of the stick? This lonely, broken heart is going to go to bed and wallow in misery for the rest of my life.”

“Stop trying to guilt trip me!” Baekhyun exclaimed, hitting Jongdae repeatedly on the arm he had been holding onto, making the latter grimace in pain. His action caused him to lose his balance, as he felt pain in his ankle, but a hand steadied him. Baekhyun stopped his violence towards Jongdae when he noticed Luhan next to him.

“You two are back.” Luhan greeted them, before turning to Baekhyun. “Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Just hurts a little. You can let go now.” Baekhyun replied.

Luhan’s face darkened, removing his hand and turning around, stalking off. Next to Baekhyun, Jongdae scowled at him. “Do you not think before you speak? Wait, I already know the answer to that.”

“I…“ Baekhyun looked at Jongdae sheepishly. “I don’t know how to deal with him in a nice way?”

“You’re hopeless. I’m not helping you.” Jongdae stated, kicking off his shoes and keeping them in the cabinet. “Good night.”

Baekhyun pouted as he watched Jongdae head for his bedroom. Manoeuvring slowly, Baekhyun sat down onto the floor to take off his shoes. He frowned when he noticed that his ankle seemed to have swelled up again. Maybe he should crawl his way to the sofa? Turning carefully to his side so that he could get on his knees, he got a shock when he saw a pair of feet.

“Are you a ninja?” Baekhyun gasped in surprise. “I didn’t hear you at all.”

“You just don’t pay enough attention.” Luhan remarked. “Were you going to crawl?”

“Uh… maybe?”

Sighing, Luhan bend down. “Put your arms around me. I’ll lift you up.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Are we going to argue about this?”

Seeing the annoyed look on Luhan’s face, Baekhyun decided it was better for both if he just kept his mouth shut this time. He did as he was told, putting his arms around Luhan’s neck as the other lifted him off the floor, bridal style, and carried him towards the latter’s room.

“Wait, you weren’t kidding when you asked me to sleep in your room?” Baekhyun asked as Luhan placed him onto his bed.

“You can sleep here tonight. I’ll take the sofa.”

Before Luhan could leave, Baekhyun grabbed the hem of Luhan’s shirt, pulling him back. “No! Don’t go!”

“What?” Luhan looked at Baekhyun, confused.

“Ugh! I’m not good at talking about such things, okay?”

“What things?”

“Are you pretending not to know or are you really that dumb?” Baekhyun narrowed his eyes at Luhan. When Luhan continued to stare at him with a confused look, Baekhyun groaned in frustration. “Sleep here, alright? Just sleeping only of course. None of those extra stuff.”

Comprehension seemed to have dawned on Luhan. “Really?”

“Yes!” Baekhyun huffed.

“Are you sure about this?” Luhan asked again.

“Damnit Luhan!” Baekhyun yelled.

Luhan laughed cheerily. “You’re so cute and infuriating at the same time.”

“Are you sure you’re not talking about yourself?”

Luhan bend forward and leaned towards Baekhyun, stopping only when his face was inches away from the latter’s. Baekhyun leaned backwards, but Luhan only moved forward again to close the gap.

“What are you doing?” Baekhyun asked. “I know my face is awesome but I’m sure it’s easier for you to admire if you look at it further away. This distance is a bit too close to fully appreciate my beauty.”

Luhan grinned, but made no move to widen the gap. “Cute.”

“Yes, I know.”

“I’m going to kiss you.”

“I said none of th-” Baekhyun’s protest was cut off as Luhan captured his lips.

 

 

 

Luhan threw his bag on the nearest sofa, shrugging off his letterman jacket and tossing it on top of his bag. He frowned when he saw that Baekhyun was too busy trying to kill off Jongin’s character in the game they were playing, not noticing Luhan’s presence. What irked Luhan even more was the sight of Jongdae back hugging Baekhyun, chin rested on Baekhyun’s shoulder as he watched the two battle it out. If Luhan knew this would happen, he wouldn’t have given the guys a day off.

“Jongdae-ah.” Luhan called out, disgruntled. When the other appeared not to have heard him, Luhan narrowed his eyes, shooting daggers at Jongdae’s back before he took a few steps forward and kicked Jongdae’s butt. “Kim Jongdae.”

“What?” Jongdae replied in an annoyed tone as he turned around, his eyes lighting up in recognition when he saw Luhan. Jongdae smiled brightly, but didn’t let go of Baekhyun. “Luhan-hyung! You’re back!”

Luhan pinched the bridge of his nose, reminding himself that Jongdae was a good kid who was just overly affectionate with his friends. That said, it wasn’t as if Jongdae was innocent and naïve, and surely he could tell that Luhan was in a ‘Not Happy about Someone Else Clinging onto _His_ Boyfriend’ mood?

“Hi Jongdae.” Luhan said slowly, trying his best to sound calm and collected, but really, who was he kidding? His tone sounded threatening, and it was clear that Jongdae got the message without Luhan continuing. Immediately, Jongdae loosen his hold around Baekhyun’s waist, scrambling backwards and scooting over to Jongin instead, partially hoping to use Jongin as cover, just in case.

That simple act by Jongdae brightened Luhan’s mood, as he quickly took up the space that Jongdae had vacated. Wrapping his arms around Baekhyun’s waist, he leaned forward, placing a kiss on the nape of Baekhyun’s neck, causing the latter to squirm.

“Luhan, stop it.”

“No.” Luhan replied, arms tightening his hold, as he continued to plant kisses on Baekhyun’s neck, inching his way upwards towards the other’s ear, before biting it. “Pay attention to me.”

Baekhyun shuddered, distracted momentarily and only returning his focus back onto the game when he saw that it was game over for him.

“Ha!” Jongin cheered victoriously, before grinning at Luhan and flashing a V-sign. “Thanks, Luhan-hyung!”

Baekhyun elbowed Luhan in the stomach violently. “I told you to stop, you dumb jerk!”

Luhan grabbed at his stomach where Baekhyun had hit him. The violence often exhibited by Baekhyun recently was a clear sign to Luhan that he should limit the interactions between the other and Kyungsoo. He suggested as such.

Baekhyun stared at Luhan as if the latter had suggested the most idiotic idea in the world. “Say that again?”

Sensing Baekhyun’s displeasure, Luhan decided to put this aside, for now. He lifted his shirt, rubbing at the sore spot. “This is going to bruise.”

“Doesn’t matter. You’re not an idol so it’s not like you’re going to be flashing those abs to your fans or something.” Baekhyun brushed off Luhan’s concerns, even as he eyes remained trained on said abs.

“It hurts.” Luhan, having noticed Baekhyun’s stare, lifted his shirt higher as he continued. He smirked when he noticed Baekhyun licking his lips unconsciously. Without warning, Baekhyun was bending forward and had pushed Luhan back, forcing the latter to lean against the sofa, as he placed a kiss on the bruised spot on Luhan’s abs.

Next to them, Jongdae and Jongin shrieked.

“We’re still here, you assholes!” Jongdae complained, grabbing the nearest cushion and throwing it at Baekhyun, as Jongin jumped up and ran out of the living room. “Get a room!”

“I was just giving a kiss to make it better.” Baekhyun stated nonchalantly as he sat back up. Luhan simply shrugged, looking smug as he reached out to tug Baekhyun closer.

“You’re a pervert who would have licked Luhan-hyung’s abs if we weren’t here.” Jongdae gave a disgusted look at his friend, who actually had the decency to blush in embarrassment. “I’m getting out of here before things get more X-rated.”

When the two were finally alone, Baekhyun crossed his arms, pouting. “I’m still mad at you. You ruined my winning streak. I was wiping the floor with Jongin’s beautiful ass.”

Luhan rolled his eyes at how Baekhyun found it a necessity to emphasize his appreciation for Jongin’s butt. Seeing Luhan’s reaction, Baekhyun only sulked more. “You suck. I’m going to find Kyungsoo.”

As Baekhyun moved to get up, Luhan pulled him back until the Baekhyun was sitting in between his legs, back pressed against Luhan’s chest. Luhan wrapped both arms around him, locking him in an embrace and preventing him from escaping.

“If you could, you’ll handcuff me to you, huh.” Baekhyun remarked, though he sounded more amused than upset.

Luhan pretended to ponder over Baekhyun’s statement, before shaking his head. “That would cause some inconvenience to us. Maybe locking you in my room would be a better option.”

Baekhyun snickered. “And you complained about my lyrics being a poor depiction of you.”

“It is.” Luhan grumbled. “You really shouldn’t have listened to Zhang Yixing’s suggestion.”

“Yixing-hyung’s right though. You’re crazily possessive.”

“Am not.”

“You’re constantly threatening Yixing-hyung to keep away from me. That was the main inspiration by the way. Also, don’t think I didn’t notice you giving Jongdae the evil eye earlier. And you even suggested that I keep my distance from my Kyungsoo.”

“Zhang Yixing is a pervert.” Luhan said. “I just wanted to hug you and was only asking Jongdae to move aside. And you’re getting influenced by Kyungsoo with your tendency to hit me.”

“You deserve to be hit anyway.” Baekhyun wriggled his nose, leaning his head backwards and resting it against Luhan’s shoulder. “You know, it took me so long just to get the music right, that the lyrics just didn’t seem important to me, especially when it’s an idol group singing my song at the end of the day.”

Luhan laughed as he played with Baekhyun’s fingers. “Even if the lyrics are questionable, at least it’s catchy… Like ‘Machine’.”

“Ugh.” Baekhyun made a face. “You know, I hated that song at first but after a while, I actually like it? Don’t tell Jongdae that I agree with him about the song being pretty catchy though. He would have a field day.”

“It wasn’t a bad song in the first place. You were just being biased.”

“It’s still not as good as my songs, though.” Baekhyun stated adamantly, sitting up and manoeuvring so that he was facing Luhan. “Tomorrow’s the comeback, right?”

Luhan nodded. “The showcase. Then the music show appearances will be the day after. You’re coming along, of course.”

“Of course! I heard that Jonghyun-sshi is the MC for the showcase so I definitely have to go! And Taeyeon-sshi is having her last stages for the music shows this week so I can’t miss those either!” Baekhyun grinned, eyes dancing as he waited for Luhan’s reaction.

Luhan knew Baekhyun was waiting for him to take the bait. He leaned forward to kiss the cheeky smile off Baekhyun’s face, the latter happily returning the kiss as it soon escalated into a full blown make-out session.

When Luhan pulled back so that the two could catch their breaths, Baekhyun’s lips were swollen but he looked thoroughly pleased at having his mouth ravished. Luhan rolled his eyes. “Maybe I really should lock you up in my room.”

“I don’t actually think it’s a bad thing if you did that.”

Luhan chuckled, before resuming the kiss.

 

 

 

_the end._


End file.
